Think the Virus, Be the Virus

  Initially, I thought I would blog about my greatness  as a writer and stuff like the fact that Coffee Time Romance has me listed as their featured writer this month.  I've gotten some terrific reviews from a number of reviewers for my latest Regency romantic mystery, I BID ONE AMERICAN, including a lovely item coming out soon from Romance Reviews Today. But despite all of this, I've had sort of a rough week and I'm not up to such shamelessness.

One would think such things would make a writer glow with good feelings and positive energy about their skills.  Instead, it makes me sort of sick and worried about whether I'm any good at all or just a huge sham.  (Wow-Sham! Oh, no, sorry, wrong television ad.  That would be:  Writer-Sham!)

In fact, I'm sitting here wondering what possible reason could I have for considering myself successful as a writer?  I have severe doubts that I am even a decent writer.  Certainly, I'm no Saki. 

And have I ever written anything that a normal human being could understand, much less enjoy?  I don't know.  I mean, if I was a fabulous writer, wouldn't I be on the NYT BestSellers list instead of just my publisher's bestsellers list?  Wouldn't I be #1 on Amazon.com?  Or at least #2?  Wouldn't I have editors begging me for my next book?

Wouldn't I have agents actually putting my name on their rejection letters, instead of "Dear Author"?

Wouldn't I be smart enough not to be writing this in my blog?

So then I started thinking about how it is we writers can go through years (I mean like 30 years) of kicks-in-the-teeth, multiple agents, people telling us our writing stinks, others telling us our writing is capable (ARGH!) but for some incomprehensible reason it's not what we're looking for at the moment...  And I got even more depressed.

What the heck is wrong with us that we keep beating our heads against that wall for little or no gain?  Earning $42 in a year is not going to keep that gas tank filled, kiddo.  Although I guess I'll soon see what "bestselling status" means when my first royalty check floats out of my publisher's hands this fall. 

The point is, though...obviously most of us are not doing it for the money.  In fact--what money?  And we're sure not doing it for an ego boost because I can tell you that I've been kicked so often and so frequently over the last ten years that if there's any ego left I'd sincerely like the wee thing to step forward so I could shake it's microscopic little hand.

This week, I came really, really close to the decision:  maybe I just need to give up.  Maybe I totally stink-on-ice and need to stop inflicting my stuff on others.  I'm just fooling myself with this "I'm a writer" shtick.

I've got a 3" binder full of rejection letters which I can't help saving because I'm completely anal.  Isn't that proof that I'm not a good writer?

So why do I do it?

Why don't I throw in the towel--right now, right this minute?

Who the heck knows?  I sure don't.  No wait--I have this uncomfortable feeling it's because I'm insane.  Completely.  I've got weird stories in my brain that won't leave me alone until I write them down.  And I have this overwhelming urge to communicate.  I don't know what it is--I just have to talk to people, even if it's in writing.

I have to try to explain this world around me and the people in it.  Why do people act the way they do?  Why are we so obstinate?  Why do we take the obviously wrong path?  What the heck is wrong with someone who thinks killing another human being is the answer to any situation--unless of course that person just really, really needs a-killin'.

Don't I get enough people-time and talking at work?  I'm on the phone 7-8 hours a day on conference calls, help calls, planning calls, calls about this-and-that, you name it.  I'm called upon to play amateur psychologist to weed out personal issues from technical computer issues or just listen to some over-worked local site administrator blow off some steam before he goes in and beats some unsuspecting user over the head with their computer monitor.  You'd be surprised what's involved in my job in the way of people skills.  (And I've frequently wondered how many innocent user lives I've actually saved from beatings or worse.)

But really, no one listens to me, anyway, on most of those calls so they're pointless as far as communications go.  And if I get hit by a bus on the way home, those calls are going to buzz on quite nicely without me.  Waves washing over footprints on the beach.  Here for five minutes, gone for eternity.

In a totally strange way, my books are my forum and safety-valve.  Or maybe more like this nice little virus I communicate to others.  They read it and get infected.  Oh, nothing quite fatal.  But something sticks--a scene, a character, a turn of phrase.  And the infection takes hold and spreads as that turn of phrase or idea takes root in the reader, and the reader passes it on to their friends, families, and even enemies.  Maybe especially to enemies.

And so communications takes place.  Insidiously.  Virally.  And despite all the bashings we writers take, we can take pleasure in the fact that yes, even the editor or agent who turned us down was exposed to the virus.  They may even have been infected.  It may stick in their brain until they die. 

And in my case, sooner or later, one of my ideas may pop out of an editor's mouth just as if it was their idea or phrase.  And I have triumphed.

I communicated.  I may have even explained something about the world and its strange inhabitants--at least to myself.

So despite everything, all I can do it keep on trying.  Keep on submitting my projects, and never stop.  Think the virus.  Be the virus.

And if you're a writer, maybe that's the attitude you need to go for, too.  Be the virus.  Write.  And keep on writing until your writing infects enough people to count as a success.  Or die trying under a poorly aimed spray of chlorine disinfectant.

NEVER give up hope.

Sweet dreams.

PS.  I actually feel better now.  Weird how that writing aimless, brainless drivel really does work.  Therapy for the terminally poor and bewildered.

The Dilemmas of Historical Fiction

How important is accuracy within a fictional work? This is a point which almost all the writers I know argue. Views range from "not at all" to "it must be as accurate as possible." While I disagree that it is unimportant, I'm well aware that complete accuracy is probably not possible, nor desirable.

Let me state now that this subject tends to be controversial, and what I'm about to write is obviously colored by my own opinions. Nonetheless, I'm hoping to break this down in a way that might help other writers—and readers—make up their minds about what is and is not important to them.

And the good news is that there are published books along the entire continuum. They range from: the only "historical" elements are long dresses, candlelight, and horse-drawn carriages; to "as completely accurate as possible."

That last goal: "to be as completely as possible" is more difficult than you might imagine. Even a writer such as Steven Saylor, who writes mysteries set in ancient Rome, cannot be entirely accurate and still create popular fiction. He often adds notes indicating where he had to "modify history" in order to make it understandable to a modern reader. For example, one of his challenges is time. Up until around the 4^th century, B.C., they formally divided day into only two parts: before midday—ante meridian (A.M.); and after midday—post meridian (P.M.). So it's difficult for his characters to talk about time, particularly using modern units of time such as an hour or minute. And yet readers expect some sort of time reference to know how long things take, e.g. did he stand there 5 minutes or 2 hours?

By Seneca's time, 4 B.C. – 65 A.D., the Romans had divided the day into 12 units, "hours," but the thing is, that time was elastic. The day always had exactly 12 hours of daylight no matter if it was a long, summer day, or a short, winter day. So "summer hours" were longer than "winter hours". And that concept sort of hurts my head.

The bottom line is that there are many basic concepts we accept and pretty well believe are "self evident." We think things were "always this way" when in fact the notion may be a relatively modern invention.

But, if you are writing for modern readers, you're going to have to accept a certain amount of anachronisms just to make sense and keep the story moving.

Like a hour being a relatively fixed amount of time.

So, I break this subject—and therefore decisions I make when writing historical fiction—into the following categories:

* Environment. Also called into "world building." This consists of architecture, clothing, furniture, and general props. Even in the most egregiously inaccurate fiction, there is really no excuse for getting these things wrong. There were no steel-and-glass skyscrapers in the 19^th century. There were no flying buttresses and Gothic cathedrals in ancient Rome. Unfortunately, there are actually a great many stories where even the basics are just…wrong. This makes me very sad. Because I consider this to be the "minimum" set of things you need to get right to give your historical a sense of being, well, an historical.

* Society, mores and customs. The milieu of the character. This is where even the most fanatical historian can start to drift. Some readers may not even notice errors in this area. And many time periods, such as the Regency, have become so stylized that you may actually be considered to have written a historically inaccurate book if you do not follow the "popular perceptions" of this period.

For the Regency, this includes things like the importance of Almack's to a Regency Miss' social acceptance, or the ease with which a damsel may become "compromised" and forced to marry some hapless male. So this is definitely a grayer area, but note: the more accurate this, the more layers or interest your book can have. And you will often find that this layer forms the major "difference" between mid to lower tier authors and higher tier (esp. literary) authors. Presenting a realistic, complex view of the Society during a specific era can be the thing that makes the difference between ordinary and extraordinary fiction.

* Characters. This is the area where authors not only have more freedom, but probably should make the major anachronistic changes. Hero and heroines who find a hanging, disembowelment, and wild animals vs Christians to be great entertainment, or believe they have a God-given right to anything they want because of their birth and wealth are probably not going to be very sympathetic in modern eyes. I think it safe to say none of us would be particularly attracted or sympathetic to most of the upper class people before the 19^th century, and probably not to most people before that time, either. And when writing popular fiction, you need to get the reader to identify and/or sympathize with your hero/heroine. That character, more than any other, will by necessity, be a modern person thinly cloaked by the trappings of their time period.

However, you can't just write yourself into the story and be done with it. Many inexperience or unskilled authors go a little too far with this to the point of turning their characters into a person that is so modern that she (or he) just seems bizarrely misplaced into the past.

So those, in a nutshell, are some of the factors you need to consider when writing, or reading, historical fiction.

Given that, why do I write so many stories set in the Regency period?

I am fascinated with the paradoxes in that Society, particularly for women within that culture. The period hasn't crystallized into the "hard and fast" rules of the Victorian age and you have wonderful, brilliant and yet proper women like Jane Austen in contrast to courtesans like Harriette Wilson or Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey. Everything was undergoing massive change with the sudden explosion in the sciences and exploration. New plants, new cultures, and huge changes in things even as simple as the rose. By mid-century, roses from China were hybridized with European varieties to create reblooming roses that eventually became the Hybrid Teas of today.

So much of what we have and know today grew out of that period.

And for me, it is the conflict of the individual within the turmoil of that Society that attracts me the most. How would an intelligent, articulate woman fit in and attract a man when one of the "rules of polite Society" was the advice "Do not speak until spoken to?" If you flouted the rules, what would the consequences be? How would you deal with them?

I have always been fascinated by those who did not quite fit in. I am intrigued by social outcasts and the desire or possibility of re-integration into Society—if you even wanted to be integrated.

That is what draws me to that period.

And I'd be fascinated to know what draws others to historical novels and how important accuracy is to them as readers or writers.

Writing and News

Today I was working on a project to upgrade 550 domain controllers--oops, sorry, wrong blog.    Couldn't resist starting out in left field.

Anyway, lots of writing activities going on now that my puppy, Molly, is on the mend.

First and foremost, my publisher has an absolutely FANTASTIC promotion going on.  Several of us authors at The Wild Rose Press are sponsoring it and the prize is a brand new Sony e-Reader!  How cool is that?

For details on the contest, visit The Wild Rose Press site (Oh, and if you want an easy way to enter, just purchase the Regency romantic mystery, I BID ONE AMERICAN, by Amy Corwin.  Totally shameless, I know.)  Of course, no purchase is necessary to enter.

On July 12th, I'm going to be signing my Regency book,  Smuggled Rose, at the Barnes & Noble on Brier Creek in the Raleigh/Durham, NC, area.  If you're in the neighborhood after lunch, around 1-2pm, come and stop by!  We've got other notable authors there, too, including NYT Bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries, so it should be a lot of fun.

SMUGGLED ROSE is about a lady rose smuggler who can't resist French roses any more than she can resist an English earl who has all the wrong ideas about her.

On the writing front, I'm a regular work-a-holic:

Here's what I have going on at the moment.  Just note that the titles may change upon the whims of the publishers…

Regency romance short story:  "Outrageous Behavior" is under consideration at The Wild Rose Press.  A Regency Miss decides that OUTRAGEOUS BEHAVIOR may be her only alternative to marriage with the wrong man…

Regency romance novella for Christmas:  "Christmas Mishaps" is due at Cerridwen Press mid-July for consideration and possible inclusion in a Regency Christmas anthology.  Sometimes, getting back into the good graces of your family can lead you even further astray…and into the arms of a younger man. 

Traditional Regency romance:  "Love, The Critic" is in my writing queue.  I'm doing some revisions requested by Cerridwen Press and hope to submit it to them again by the end of July.  Elizabeth Tate finds to her dismay that her enemy and most hardened critic may be the only man for her!

Regency Romantic Mystery:  "The Vital Principle" is under consideration at a publisher.  Pru may be a fake spiritualist, but she's no murderer—and she's determined to prove it.

Regency Romantic Mystery:  "The Bricklayer's Helper" is under consideration at a publisher.  Sarah survived a devastating fire that destroyed her family, but the killer is not about to let her escape a second time.  So Sarah enlists the aid of the far-too-handsome inquiry agent, William Trenchard, hoping to expose the murderer before he strikes again.

And I've got a few more stories "under construction" so with luck, something may be contracted and move into the "to be released" queue soon.  Or at least before I lose my mind completely.

So...I guess I'll get back to work.  I have to polish up the novella to send in to Cerridwen Press and then finish my edits on LOVE, THE CRITIC so I can send them that, too.  And then...I think I may actually work on polishing my vampire story and trying that at The Wild Rose Press.  Gosh, I didn't even mention that in the list above, but I'd sort of like to get back to it.  It just needs a wee bit of work...

Have a wonderful evening and take time out to smell the roses!

Frustration

Be warned--this blog is long and confusing.  And it talks about absolutely nothing of importance.

There.  You've been warned.

Frustration is...very frustrating.  I don't handle frustration very well, particularly when I don't understand something.  Today was just filled with frustration and petty annoyances.  Turning this blog into a forum to blow off steam about the idiocy of the people I work with would be a bad thing, so I'm going to take a few more long pulls of an alcoholic beverage and try to turn it into something more positive.  Or at least more interesting. 

No.  I lied.  There is no amount of alcohol that is going to let me gloss over today.

One of the things that really, really irritated me was the need many people have to turn something that should be simple into a complex, rampaging beast. 

And irony, thy name is Amy.  Amy should listen to herself about making things hard.

Let me explain in a very circuitous manner. 

At work, my fellow team members took information that could have been presented in one simple spreadsheet and split it up among various spreadsheets saved all over the place.  You can't go to one source and get everything.  They further decided that even though they assigned me one region of the country, they would assign a few small sites to others and not tell me.  And they only documented this in an obscure spreadsheets I've never seen.

And our field folks get a different spreadsheet containing no assignments, so they don't know who to contact.  Since they all know me, naturally, the field calls me.  And stupid me, if they are in the region I *thought* I managed, I start working with them.

Only to be slapped upside the head because, well, oops, I didn't check that internal, obscure spreadsheet I didn't know about.  So I didn't see that this one, single site out of the entire region happens to be assigned to someone else.

Well, ex-cuuuuuu-se me.

I told them to put everything into one spreadsheet.  Make that the same spreadsheet we and our field folks view.  Then everyone knows who they should work with.

But no...that would make it too easy.  We can't do that.  So, being the stubborn little cuss that I am, after a long, fruitless discussion, I decided to heck with it.  I'm just going to work with my assigned regions, regardless of site, and if I get into trouble, well, so sue me.

I thought the point was to get the work done.

Okay...so back to reality.  As I mentioned, it's ironic that I can recognize this at my day job, but fail entirely to recognize that I'm making my own life as a writer excessively difficult because I won't do things the easy way.

Actually, I do recognize it.  I'm just unsure what to do about it.  It all comes down to commercial fiction versus...writing what you love to write.  If what you happen to love to write fits more-or-less into the current market, wow, you've got it made.

When I first started seriously trying to get published, I was in a critique group.  One of the ladies wrote very, very erotic material.  And all of a sudden, erotic is "in".  All the big publishers are scrambling to open new, erotic lines.  So she's got all kinds of contracts and books coming out.  Amazing.

But me...that's where the irony comes in.  My mom always said, "If there's an easy road and a hard road, you'll always take the hard road."

"But the hard road is the right road," I replied.  "Because the easy road takes you into the valley where you see nothing and the hard road takes you to the top of the hill where you can see everything.  And I need to see everything to know which road to take next."

I always had a logical reason for that hard road.

This time, I'm not so sure.  Am I just being stubborn in refusing to give up much needed scene and page space to long, explicit sex scenes?  I don't know.  It sure annoys me when other authors do that--particularly if it ends up they give short-shrift to the mystery or other sub-plot(s).

Of course, I could do that.  But, I'd have to give up a lot of sub-plots, complications, and much of the mystery.  Of course, I'd be much better compensated for being such a "good sport" about it and toeing the line.  I'd probably be a heck of a lot more popular.  I could be on that easy, smooth road to fame and fortune, heading down into that nice, green valley instead of up that rocky, steep hill.

I could be a NY Times bestselling author.

Well, maybe not--I mean a lot of it also depends upon the quality of your writing, your imagination, and your mastery of the writing craft in general...but...  If you are writing with the expectation to sell, and the market you are targeting is the commercial fiction market, how far do you go to fit in?

(Interesting that a lot of my stories concern people who simply don't "fit it".  I wonder where that theme comes from?)

What if what you love to write isn't commercially viable?

Do you say, "To heck with it, I'm a writer so I'll just write this commercial stuff because it will sell, even though I personally wouldn't--and don't--read it."

Wonder if pretty much everything you read tends to be from rather obscure authors, or authors from the last century?  And what does that say about you?  Do you need a mental evaluation?

Do you go to smaller publishing houses, knowing the trade-off is fewer sales and almost no pay?

How do you know when you are just being stupidly stubborn and need to learn to "get with the program" and write the popular stuff?

What if writing in a more popular style with more popular content makes you want to weep and slash your wrists?  (It probably means you really do need a thorough mental evaluation.)

What if writing in a less popular style makes you glow with excitement and gives you the drive to get to that keyboard and start typing?

Should you go to a psychiatrist and ask for drugs so you aren't depressed anymore when you have to give up the scenes crucial to solving your mystery sub-plot so you can insert sex scenes and still stay within the page limits?

When are you traveling that hard road out of sheer, cussed stubbornness?

(When will I learn to spell?)

And should a writer really put out a blog like this one?  Would a good writer like Jenny Crusie put out a blog like this one?  Methinks--not!

On the other hand, I'm not Jenny Crusie, although I often wish I was.  Sadly enough, even more often I wish I was H. H. Munroe (better know as Saki), but he was a guy and he died in a foxhole, and that's not my "thing".  I like being married to a guy, sure, but I don't really want to be one.  Especially not a dead guy.

But he was a fabulous writer.  

So, I sure don't have any answers.  I wish I did.

And if I've left you confused and wandering around in the weeds, I'm sorry.  But rest assured, I'm just as lost as you are.

Humbly Grateful

This evening, I was sitting on the front porch relaxing after work and watching the hummingbirds at our feeder, and I thought, wow, I really have a lot to be grateful for.  Our plum trees are loaded with fruit and my husband and I spent twenty minutes stuffing our faces with ripe, sweet plums that just burst with flavor with you took that first bite.  We picked a large bag to take to our neighbors and with the glorious weather...it was just one of the most perfect evenings I've had.

And then, I came inside and went to the computer, and low-and-behold, I found that my newly released book:  I BID ONE AMERICAN has risen into the top ten bestsellers at The Wild Rose Press!

What a fantastic way to start the weekend.  I am humbled and honored that so many people have purchased my book, particularly since it is only out as an e-book at the moment.  E-books are funny creatures--they are sort of on the bleeding edge of technology, so it truly is an honor when someone spends their cash to purchase your book.

So...Thank you SO MUCH—I'm very grateful. I hope at least some of this interest is in response to the wonderful reviews I BID ONE AMERICAN has received over the last two weeks. I am particularly impressed by review sites such as BookUtopia's blog, Long and Short Reviews, and The Romance Studio.  If anyone gets a chance to check out them out, I highly recommend these review sites.

For those of you who are intrigued by the title of I BID ONE AMERICAN, it's a Regency romantic mystery and here is the "back of the book" blurb:

An American heiress nobody wants; a duke every woman desires; and a murder no one expects.

When Nathaniel, Duke of Peckham, meets Charlotte, he's suspicious of her indifference. Too many women have sought—and failed—to catch him. Happily, Charlotte is more interested in dead pharaohs than English dukes and laughs at both him and his suspicions.

Her fragile defenses crumble, however, when a debutante seeking to entrap Nathaniel gets murdered. All too soon, his reputation as a misogynist makes him a suspect, and Charlotte impulsively comes to his aide.

Unfortunately, both are unaware that a highwayman interested in rich heiresses is following Charlotte. And that another debutante lies dead in Nathaniel's carriage.

Some nights just don't go as planned.

 
 

---Thanks again and have a fabulous weekend!

Fun and Inspiration

As usual, I was without a camera when I really needed one this past weekend.  My husband and I spent a wonderful Memorial day holiday at our tiny cottage.  Just for grins and giggles, we took the dogs and went out in the boat on Saturday evening, a few hours before sunset.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  Perfect, cool weather and no cell phones!  My husband proposed the idea because he thought red drum would be nice to have for Sunday dinner.

Anyway, I spotted some weird goings-on in the shallow water near a small island.  Fins and such all roiling up the water.  At first, I thought it was either a porpoise or shark messing around because the fins had that "fleshy" look about them.  But my husband said, "Red drum do that," and decided to do a little casting.

He got out of the boat and waded to the island, cast once and caught something...something big.  Really big.  He wasn't sure exactly what--which made me nervous since he's a wildlife biologist, and I pretty well expect him to know everything.  (I, at one time, majored in biology, also, and know a few things, but I haven't near the memory he has, so I generally rely on him.) 

"It's a skate!" he yelled back, after a few minutes of struggling.  "Come on and give me a hand."

I was none too sure it actually was a skate and not small shark, or that there weren't small sharks swimming around waiting for my bright pink crocs to hit the water, but what the heck.  You only live once, right?  I told the doggies to stay in the boat and with the waves slapping me in the chin, I waded over to the island.

Then he hands me the fishing pole and tells me he needs a break.  So I worked the fish for a while and dang if it wasn't a monster determined to head on out into the big blue ocean.  But after a while, we finally got it into the shallow water and sure enough, it was a huge skate!  I was amazed!  I had never seen one before, and it was absolutely the most gorgeous critter I've seen.

Hubby carefully unhooked the thing after we both stared at the long--very long--tail thinking about Steve Irwin and wondering if there was any possibility we were wrong in thinking it was a completely harmless skate.  But hubby got the hook out and pushed it back into the briny deep as the sky turned a deep apricot around us.  We watched it for a while and then happily waded back to the boat.

It was the experience of a lifetime.  And of course, I had no camera.

So that's partially how we spent our holiday. 

I also took the time to write the rough draft of a short story I'm going to be cleaning up this week to submit to The Wild Rose Press.

My publisher is so cool--they will publish works of fiction including short stories, novellas, and regular length novels.  You don't know how rare that is and what a fantastic boon it is for writers to have a publisher who will take short stories and novellas.

I've always wanted to try my hand at shorties (and get your mind out of the gutter).  Hoping that my editor would be interested, I wrote a very short story set in the Regency period in London.  I just hope the one I've written is going to be...acceptable to her.

Because I've been known to write very unsympathetic characters, or so I'm told, and my heroine is definitely on the snarky side.  But you see, I've always preferred the ornery folks that no one else much cares for.  My favorite teacher was hated and feared by all the other students--and I really never understood why.  I loved her.  She expected a lot of you and didn't take any crap, but she had a wicked, sarcastic sense of humor.

And in my reading habits, I very much prefer the mean characters that "only a mother could love--and only if she's drinking...heavily."

In my family, if someone insults you, it means they love you.  It's only when they speak very nicely to you that you know you're in deep poo-poo.  So I get all kind of warm and fuzzy when people say snarky things to me.  If my husband calls me a dim-wit, I get the urge to throw him on the bed...and you get the picture.

Unfortunately, this carries over into my writing, although I've really tried to control it.  But you see, I don't much care for the sweet, nice characters.  I've been known to not finish books with nice, sweet heroines (reading or writing them).  Give me the mean ones with the big mouths and I'm happy...

So I'm not sure but what my editor will read my story and come back with... "Ummm, Amy, your heroine is a little unsympathetic don't you think?  A little...mean?"

"Well, yes.  That's why I like her."

Anyway, I've got to get back to work.  I have a snarky Regency short story to polish.

Sweet dreams, everyone, and I hope you enjoyed your weekend!

e-Books: Am I crazy or What?

e-Books...hate them or love them, I've come to the conclusion that they are the future and the future is now.  Oh, sure, I hear a lot of remarks like, "There is something about holding a real book and turning the pages..." or "I don't like to read a book sitting at the computer."  I'm with you on that last one, believe me.  As a computer specialist by day and writer by night, I sit way too long at the computer as it is.  I do not want to sit at one to read a book.

And yet...  I think the pundits that don't see e-books taking over the publishing world are being too conservative in their fortune telling.  I think the death of physical books may be imminent.  It only needs a few more things to fall into place....  And yes, I'll talk about that in a minute.  First, I want to explain what I've seen in my own life that has led me to believe none of us has really gone quite far enough in our predictions.

You see, I suffer from lack of room.  Both my husband and I read--and not only read, but collect out-of-print volumes.  So now, I don't have any more room for "real books," if you consider real books to be those things printed on paper.  We are literally drowning in paper in my house, and I can't take it any more.

I look at my books and what I see are dust catchers full of mites and allergens contributing to the general clutter and over-whelming-ness (is that a word?) of my life.  But I can't give them away because my favorite books are not available in any other format.  Most are not even sold anymore.  If I get rid of them, I'll never be able to read them again.  And I do re-read them.

So I have to keep them.  I don't want to, but at the moment, I have no choice.  But I see change and relief on the horizon.  And I see my behavior already beginning to shift in a new direction. Over the last three years, I've stopped buying computer books because I prefer to have two computers at work:  one to do my work and one for research.  I'd rather google a question than have to look for something in a book.  I leave the information up on the screen of my "research" computer to refer to while I work on my other computer.  I've even stopped printing things out.  If I want to "keep" a resource that I think may disappear off the web, then I download a copy and save it on my system.  All it takes is a little file space, and it doesn't even collect dust.  (Okay, my computer collects dust, but I'm over that, now.)

I cannot believe I'm the only one who has seen the speed and advantage of doing an online search. 

And there are so few things I need to make me completely convert over to e-books:

 An e-book reader (they exist, but are too expensive at the moment.)

 An online library un-associated with a specific e-book reader or e-book vendor (I'll explain more about this idea in a minute)

 e-Book versions of the books I just can't live without.  (No--not great literature, more like old Gothics from the 70's, 80's and early 90's)

That's all.  I told you it wouldn't be a big deal to make me into a complete c-book fanatic.

There are already e-book readers out there and they are pretty good.  I like Amazon's Kindle at the moment because of the download-while-I'm-in-the-airport capabilities, but heck, any will do.  Except...I really wish they had color screens.  I don't know why, but it really bugs me that they are only B&W at the moment.  This whole point, though, is really only a tech-weenie, propeller-head issue and is pretty much already solved.

The second point is really the crux of the matter, from my perspective.  I want a place to store my books until I die.  A place free from association with any specific vendor like Amazon, because I'm always paranoid that twenty years from now, they will be out of business.  And many of these silly publishers/vendors use digital rights management (DRM) which is a fancy way of saying they're trying to make sure you can't back up/trade/resell the item you bought, whether it is music or a book.  I loathe and despise DRM, but could live with it if I had a library where I could back up all my e-books forever and ever, amen, without worrying about a specific vendor going out of business and losing my investment in books purchased from them.

I don't think I'm the only one who has thought of such a thing, so I'm hoping to see news of it in some tech-weenie rag any day now.

The last point...well, I'm not sure anyone is going to go back and create e-book versions of Virginia Coffman's Moura books, so I may have to keep a few old volumes around for kicks.

Now...I think I will finish this blog with some interesting (at least to me) speculation about the impact of this trend.  Because there is no doubt it will have a huge impact.

Think about it.  If we go to e-books, suddenly, the playing field for authors gets a lot more "even".  Bookstores will dwindle--if not vanish.

The market will change.  How you buy books will change.  No more browsing shelves--you'll browse the Internet instead.  If a book catches your fancy, well, you'll buy it.  And the way books are advertised and marketed will change dramatically.

Right now, if you're not with a big, NY House, you may struggle to get your books into libraries and on shelves in bookstores.  If you're with a small house like me, you probably won't get into any book stores or libraries unless you give away free copies to individual librarians.  Forget the bookstores altogether unless they are independent bookstores and will purchase on consignment.

But if everyone is selling through an online store, then all authors are carried and it becomes more about:  popularity, word-of-mouth, and advertising.  The more popular books will get to the top of the e-book store's Have you tried this? list they suggest to readers.  It may dramatically change the ability of a new author to gain an audience.  We all get a better chance, although big publishers will still have the edge on obtaining advertising and better spots on "recommended" lists.

None-the-less, it boggles the mind.

This is a huge subject, and I've rather glossed over much of it, but I find it fascinating to watch the changes.  In point of fact, I can't wait for this particular change, because I'd love to replace my old, crumbling "The Vicar of Moura" with a dust-free e-book version.

May Favorite Line Contest

Feel like entering a contest? It's not hard, so come on, give it a try. To celebrate the publication of my new Regency romantic mystery, I BID ONE AMERICAN, I'm sponsoring a contest. All you have to do is send an e-mail to: contest@amycorwin.com containing your favorite line from one of my books. That's it. The contest ends May 31, 2008, so start thinking about it.

The winner will be picked randomly from all the entries received. Actually, the grand prize winner and a runner-up. The prizes will be nice, useful things like coffee mugs, tee-shirts, and the like. Sadly, due to the high costs of shipping things out of the country, I'm offering different prizes for folks outside the U.S.A. If you enter and win, but live outside the U.S.A. you can have your choice of being mentioned in the dedication of my next book, or having your name given to one of the major characters in my next book! You could be famous!

And if it turns out that you live in the U.S.A. but would prefer to have your name used for one of my characters—no problem. Happy to oblige.

So…good luck!

Phew, this promotional stuff is killer, and I'm really lousy at it. I'd much rather sit in a cave, write all day, and watch the bats.

Oh, and here's a little something to brighten your day. I've uploaded a video to YouTube of our dog, Molly, and a garden hose. All I can say is: I'm really hoping scientists prove that insanity is hereditary and not environmental because of what this says about us if it is nurture versus nature. I've always been a big fan of the genetic basis for behavior, anyway, even before we noticed Miss Molly's sudden bursts of complete insanity.

On the bright side, her mental imbalance seems relatively harmless except when she's trying to be helpful, picks up the nozzle of the hose and points it at me. When I try to escape, she thinks it's great fun to chase me, trying to offer me the hose so I will squirt her—all the while she is spraying me with the icy water. I don't think she realizes that humans don't have that nice hide covered with curly hair she has.

Writing-wise, I'm torn between finishing a Regency novella and redoing the first few chapters of Love, the Critic. Truth be told, I'd prefer to work on Love, the Critic and maybe that's what is stalling me on the novella. The novella has a deadline, though, and Love doesn't. These are the times that try writers' souls. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

That's it. I have to get back to work. I'm going to work on Love, the Critic, just because I feel like it. At least I'll be writing something.

Have a great week!

Amy

Squeals of Joy

My new Regency romantic mystery, I BID ONE AMERICAN, is finally out today! Yippee! I keep trying to tell myself not to get too excited, but I can't help it. There is just something so satisfying and thrilling to see your new book up on your publisher's website.

I BID ONE AMERICAN is especially dear to me because it earmed me my agent and my publisher, The Wild Rose Press. And my publisher gave me hardly any edits at all! I'm still in a daze about that. Right up until today when I saw it on their website, I kept expecting the other shoe to drop and my editor to call me and say, "Well, Amy, there's just this one thing we really, really need to change..."

This first edition is an e-book and is available from almost any e-book store on the Internet. I haven't swooped through all the stores yet to see if they do, indeed, have a copy, but if they don't, they will shortly. So you should be able to find it at FictionWise, All Romance e-Books and even through the Amazon Kindle store. Although, of course, since it was just released, it may not show up at those other places for a few days.

Right now, it's available from The Wild Rose Press, and I'm tickled pink.

Enough already, you must be gagging by now, but really, I can't tell you what a feeling of accomplishment it is to see your book finally available to share with others. It's humbling, nerve-wracking, and exciting. You want people to love it--you want to entertain and make folks laugh--but most of all, you want to communicate with others. Make a connection.

I don't think most folks realize how much writers reveal of their vulnerable, inner self with each book they write. It is a little part of them.

So I humbly hope folks really will enjoy I BID ONE AMERICAN and share my love for the Regency period and the cozy mystery genre.

Happy reading!

Oh, my gosh, I almost forgot! Check out my web page at http://www.amycorwin.com for information on my May 2008 contest. You never know—you might win! Good luck…

Amy

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Instead of writing the Regency novella I'm supposed to be working on (theoretically for a Christmas book), I'm sitting here messing around with photos from my garden. I kept thinking all last month that I ought to take some pictures when the roses were really in full bloom, however, I didn't do so. I took pictures of our puppy, Molly, instead. She's a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and a real handful. I feel sorry for poor old Rowdy, our chocolate Lab, because he puts up with a lot of her nonsense. But he's good with her and when she gets too aggravating, we let him inside to relax for a while.

Hard to believe it's already May and the "first flush of spring" is pretty much history for 2008. Around here, you've got to get your peas and cool weather crops like lettuce, cabbage, and radishes planted in January or February. I blew that this year—didn't make the time table, but I tried to make up for it by planting tomatoes and pepper plants last month. Unfortunately, our few remaining chickens found the fresh, nice plants pretty tasty, so I'll have to start over again. Sometime soon, too. I also sort of missed the whole "rose bush ordering" deadline as well and it will be too hot to do any planting in about three weeks.

We do have a few roses, though, and I've come to treasure those bushes that will grow with benign neglect. My garden has dwindled down from around 140 roses to around 100. I'm through with all the sprays and nitpicking. I stopped showing roses in favor of working more on my writing, so I'm not so concerned about growing the perfect rose. Now, my garden consists mostly of Old Garden roses (roses hybridized before 1900) and a few other very hardy types that can withstand the rigors of a garden in the humid, hot southeast.

As you may have guessed from my book 'SMUGGLED ROSE', I sort of like roses. The idea for the book arose from my research into roses and varieties that might do well around here. My research took me down some fairly dark alleys, and I discovered some fascinating history, particularly concerning the Empress Josephine and her gardens at Malmaison in the early part of the 19^th century (the Regency period in England). The Empress had problems with folks rampaging through her gardens at night and stealing roses, so she had to engage guards. 'SMUGGLED ROSE' grew out of the notion that some of those stolen roses might have been smuggled to rose enthusiasts in England. After all, if fistfights could break out in Regency London when a limited stock of some new rose was put on auction, then more than one person in England was fairly interested in roses and more than a little eager to get the latest variety.

Hence, Margaret, my lady rose smuggler, was born. My latest book, 'I BID ONE AMERICAN', doesn't have much in the way of gardening, but I'm sure gardens and specifically roses will work their way back into future stories. I can't hardly help myself.

In my garden, 'Knockout' is one of the few modern, shrub-type roses that actually lived up to its reputation for being hardy and prolific. It has been covered with fragrant blooms for a couple of weeks, and I haven't sprayed a drop. In fact, now that I think about it, I believe I also forgot to feed most of my roses, including 'Knockout', last year. So that rose is giving its all and then some. A few of David Austin's English roses do well here, too, although I tend to buy the ones that are listed as "tender" or have the old Tea and/or Noisettes in their family tree because those do best here. David Austin may despise the old Teas and Noisettes, but they are the backbone of my garden because they can withstand the climate and flourish without any effort on my part, whatsoever. You gotta love a rose like 'Reve d'Or' which will attempt to take over the world without even the slightest encouragement. It broke down three metal arches and we finally had to cut the darn rose back and put up a huge wooden support system. It has now completely covered that once more and is home to several bird nests. So far, it hasn't been able to break up the wooden beams, but it's not for want of trying.

Most of the time, however, I find that rose advertising tends to be somewhat optimistic about the health of most roses. And what grows in one person's garden, often fails for others.

For example, I love 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' which is a Bourbon rose hybridized around 1842. It has lovely, fragrant, pale pink blooms that look like Hybrid Tea blooms, but it's a lot healthier. At least for me. I've never sprayed or fertilized the darn bush and it keeps pumping out those blooms in a big spring flush, another huge flush in the fall, and sporadic blooms throughout the killing heat of summer. However, I recommended this rose to friends who grow roses near Wilmington and they have not had very good luck with it. But their soil is sandy and mine is clay. They can grow Hybrid Teas and I cannot. For the most part, Hybrid Teas die within a few months of planting here. So…your mileage may vary.

A few other bushes that seem to do well for more people than just me are the Old Garden roses in the Hybrid Perpetual class. This class was sort of a precursor to the Hybrid Tea, but I find them much, MUCH healthier. In fact, they are pretty much in constant bloom, have a wonderful rich rose fragrance, and seem almost entirely disease free. Varieties I grow include: 'Sydonie' and 'Marchesa Boccella'. Another class that is very healthy is the Portland and I absolutely adore 'Yolande d'Aragon'. (And yeah, if you click on the links--those are all pictures I took of my roses...not to brag or anything... *grin*.)

Didn't mean to spend the entire blog on gardening, but it's been on my mind lately.

Wishing you lovely weather and a nice layer of dirt under your fingernails!

Amy

SMUGGLED ROSE Gets 4-Star Review!

After my last blog about passive voice, I had initially intended to do some more studying and wax poetic about some new point of grammar, such as the horrible comma. However, two things stopped me.

One: I don't have a grammar book published later than 1963, and I sort of think comma usage has changed since then.

Two: I got the latest issue of Romantic Times (http://www.romantictimes.com). For those who have never seen this magazine, it is a lovely monthly publication for booklovers and has book reviews on all kinds of romance-related genres. And…in the June 2008 issue, they reviewed SMUGGLED ROSE!

I was shocked and amazed. Then I was shocked that I was amazed, because, hey, my publisher worked very hard to get my book reviewed by them (thank you very much, Cerridwen Press).

Now, I know authors are supposed to be above all that sort of thing and not pay the least attention to reviews. However. Authors should not pay attention to reviews when they are lousy. Otherwise, they should pay a great deal of attention to them and brag incessantly.

Writing is a lonely, frustrating, and often demoralizing task that frequently leads to nothing more than a series of slaps and blows about the head. If you had an ego when you started, in a few years, chances are good that you'll either have no ego left or it will be so hardened that even Superman couldn't puncture it. So many of us are pathetically grateful to get even a single nice phrase, even if it's just a whiffle-waffle: well, it doesn't totally suck.

So when you happen to walk the half-mile to the mailbox, pick up your issue of Romantic Times, flip through it and see your name… It's no wonder that you feel a little faint. You close your eyes. You take a deep breath and steel yourself for the worst. It's just a review, you tell yourself. It doesn't matter. It's just one person's opinion. Get a grip.

Then you see… FOUR STARS!

And a rather nice review beneath it! To quote just a line or two:

Corwin's wonderful story is much like the traditional Regencies that readers sorely miss. The hero and heroine are a fine match, and the secondary characters add a lot to the story. The ending is exciting and quite nicely done…

There's more, too…

Then you let that breath out and start shaking. You realize this isn't just one person's opinion—your book is GOOD! And now—everyone will know—your book is GOOD!

So you go home and discover you don't exactly have any champagne to break out. And you're out of beer, too. And in fact, the only thing you have is some very old cooking sherry that's mostly dried up sludge in the bottom of the bottle. So you cook a few hamburgers to celebrate and remind yourself that next week, you can always go back to ordinary. And you might even cover the curious use of commas in your blog.

But for tonight…well…I think a little R&R is in order.

Passive Voice

Everyone knows they are supposed to use active voice—not passive—when they write, but a lot of folks have difficulties identifying passive and often confuse it with past progressive or other verb tense forms. I know for a long time, I was guilty of that. I thought I could identify passive voice entirely by searching for the word “was.”

I could not have been more wrong.

Passive voice should not be confused with verb tense.

Verb tense is action + time. What happened and when.

Passive/active voice is the subject in relation to the action. Is the subject the doer or the recipient of the action?

I am by no means Madame Grammarian or an expert in grammar by any stretch of the imagination. It wasn't until NYT Bestselling author, Sabrina Jeffries, beat me over the head with the meaning of passive voice that I really "got it". Now, I'm going to give you the benefit of my beating.

Because it is seriously important for writers to become proficient in the tools of their craft, and grammer is the most important tool. So I’ve done a little studying. What I hope to do here is explain what passive voice is—and what is not—and show lots of examples.

Note, big warning repeated: Do not confuse verb tense with passive or active voice. Passive or active are determined strictly by the doer or recipient of the action.
And, believe it or not, there are actually times when you should use passive voice.

Key to Passive Voice: Identify who or what is doing the action. If the subject of the sentence is performing the action, then it’s active, regardless of the verb tense used.
If the subject of the sentence is the recipient of the action, then it is passive.

Active: She hit him.

“She” is the subject of the sentence. She is doing the action, i.e. she’s doing the hitting, actively (and one might say, aggressively). Active.

Passive: He was hit by her.

“He” is the subject of the sentence, but he’s not the one doing the action. He’s the recipient of the action performed “by her”. So he’s passively accepting a sock to the jaw. Passive.

First Rumor to Dispel
The word “was” indicates passive voice.

No, not all the time. If you see “was” in combination with a verb ending in “ing” then it is probably not passive voice. It is probably past progressive showing a continuous action that happened in the past.

For example:
He was walking.

Past progressive, active, not passive. “He” is the subject of the sentence and he was actively, continuously walking, in the past.

If you see “was” in combination with a verb ending in “ed” or “en,” etc, then it is probably passive voice.

For example:
The tray of food was dropped by the waiter. Passive. The tray of food is the recipient of the action. It was dropped by the waiter.

Not Passive Example 1: “Was” + “-ing” verb

He was walking to the store when a bus hit him.

“Was walking” indicates that he was in the act of walking—continuously walking—when he got hit by a bus. This is not passive voice. It is past progressive. You can think of this verb tense as “in the progress of doing something,” with the emphasis on progress. Hence, progressive.

Remember: verb tense is action + time--the tenses tell you what was done and when it was done.

You would not say:

He walked to the store when a bus hit him.

Not only does this sound strange, but it suffers from temporal distortion because “walked” indicates that he had finished walking when the bus hit him. Excuse me? Was he just standing there? Or maybe you mean, he walked to the store after the bus hit him.

That’s what I mean by temporal distortion. You no longer know what the correct timing is in this sequence, because you used the wrong verb tense in a misguided effort to avoid “was.”

Clearly, it is not the verb tense that indicates if a sentence is active or passive, because both of those sentences were active.

Passive Example 2: “Was” + “ed” verb

He was attacked by a bear at the corner of 5th and Main.

“Was attacked” here indicates the bear actually performed the action—not the man. This is passive voice. And it is passive voice told using past tense.

[Most stories are told in some form of third person, past tense, so most of my examples are written that way. However, you can use any verb tense and still have passive voice if your subject is the recipient of the action.]

Examples of Various Verb Tenses + Passive/Active Voice
Just to prove this point, here are examples of all the verb tenses, used in sentences constructed using first passive voice and then active voice. Some of the examples are extremely awkward—sorry about that.

Note again, it is the subject in relation to action that indicates passive or active voice. It is not the verb tense, which is action + time. (Although if you see the word “being” in the sentence, chances are good that it’s a passive construction, unless it’s future progressive.)

PRESENT - NOW Verb Forms

Present Tense

The cart is dragged by her into the woods. Present tense, passive voice
The cart is the recipient of the action.

Now, active voice:
She drags the cart into the woods. Present tense, active voice
She is taking action.

Present Perfect Tense (indefinite time/continues to present). Uses has/having with the verb's past participle, e.g. ending in -ed.

The cart has been dragged through the woods by her since 2PM.

Present tense (continues in the present), passive voice.

A better passive voice example is:
Discrimination has undergone examination for its effect on society since 1960.

Present tense (continues in the present), passive voice.

Now, active voice:
She has dragged the cart through the woods since 2PM.

Present tense (continues in the present), active voice

Present Progressive (continuous action, happening now). Uses am/is/are with verb ending in -ing.

The cart is being dragged by her through the woods.

Present progressive (continuous action, now), passive voice. Note "being".

Now, active voice:
She is dragging the cart through the woods.

Present progressive (continuous action, now), active voice.

Present Perfect Progressive (action began in the past, continues in the present, and may continue into the future). Uses has/have been + verb ending in -ing.

The cart has been being dragged by her through the forest.

Present perfect progressive (continuous action that may continue in the future), passive voice. Wow, that’s awkward. Yuch.

Maybe a different passive sentence would help:
A transfer of funds has been undergoing consideration by the committee for quite some time.

Now, active voice:
She has been dragging the cart through the woods.

Present perfect progressive (continuous action that may continue into the future), active voice.

Another example may make this clearer:
She has been considering quitting her job if her boss doesn’t ease up. Active voice.

FUTURE – in the future

Future Tense
The cart will be dragged by her through the woods. Future tense, passive voice

And active voice:
She will drag the cart through the woods. Future tense, active voice

Future Perfect Tense (Action occurs in the future before some other action). Uses "will have" + past particple of the verb.

The cart will have been dragged into the woods by the time we get there.

Future perfect tense, passive voice

And active voice:
She will have dragged the cart into the woods by the time we get there.

Future perfect tense, active voice

Future Progressive (Ongoing, continuous action in the future). Uses "will be" + verb ending in -ing.

The cart will be being dragged into the woods by her this afternoon while we are out.

Future progressive (continuous action in the future), passive voice.

And active voice:
She will be dragging the cart into the woods this afternoon while we are out.

Future progressive (continuous action), active voice.

Future Perfect Progressive (Ongoing, continuous action that will occur before some future time). Uses "will have been" + verb ending in -ing.

The cart will have been being dragged into the woods by her by 4:00pm.

Future perfect progressive (future continuous action that occurs before some specified time), passive voice.
A better example may be:

By next year, the decision will have been undergoing review for over three years.

Future perfect progressive, passive voice. The decision is being reviewed, so it is the recipient of the review. “We” is implied as the entity taking the action. If this was rephrased in active voice, it would be: By next year, we will have been reviewing this decision for over three years.

And active voice:
She will have been dragging the cart for over an hour by 4:00pm.

Future perfect progressive (future continuous action that occurs before some specified time), active voice.
A better example may be:

By the year 3000, doctors will have been treating cancer with radiation therapy for over 1000 years.

Future perfect progressive, active voice. The doctors are treating cancer, i.e. the doctors are taking the action against cancer.


PAST – happened in the past

Past Tense
The cart was dragged into the woods by her. Past tense, passive voice
She dragged the cart into the woods. Past tense, active voice

Past Perfect Tense (Action took place in past before another past action). Uses "had" + past participle of the verb (e.g. ends in -ed).

The cart had been dragged into the woods by her by the time we got there.

Past perfect tense, passive voice

She had dragged the cart into the woods by the time we got there.

Past perfect tense, active voice

Past Progressive (action happening when another action occured). Uses was + verb ending in -ing.

The cart was being dragged into the woods by her when she saw a bear.

Past progressive (continuous, past action), passive voice.

She was dragging the cart into the woods when she saw a bear.

Past progressive (continuous, past action), active voice.

Past Perfect Progressive (continuous action completed before some other past action). Uses "had been" + verb ending in -ing.

The cart had been being dragged into the woods by her for over an hour before we got home.

Past perfect progressive (continuous action completed before some other past action), passive voice.
Here is another example that’s still awkward, but maybe more understandable…

Before we ended the meeting at 5PM, the recommendation had been undergoing discussion for over three hours.

Past Perfect Progressive, passive voice. The recommendation is the subject, and “we” are discussing it. The action is “discussing”.

And now active:
She had been dragging the cart through the woods or over an hour before we got home.

Past perfect progressive (continuous action), active voice.


Obviously, some of these forms are exceptionally awkward—at least in the examples I selected. There are certainly less awkward examples I could have written. Maybe. Thank goodness we rarely try to write fiction with such strained, awkward language.

When is it okay to use passive?
Now comes the really interesting part—at least to me. There are some times when you have to use passive, or at least want to use passive, in order to preserve emphasis and not to change the subject.

Remember the big key: passive versus active is essentially the subject of the sentence in relation to the action. If you write everything in active voice, you can sometimes inadvertently change the subject to an entity (e.g. a cart) that is less important.

I’m going to give a lot of examples, because this is very, very important and is really the crux of this entire article.

When you write, one of the things you really have to think about is: who or what is the “focus” of attention right now? Depending upon your answer, you may need to use passive voice if you don’t want to shift the focus, even temporarily, to another subject.

In other words, if you don’t want to change the subject.

Focus Example 1

“What happened to Nancy?” he asked.
“She was hit by a bus on her way to work,” the receptionist said before breaking into tears.

“She was hit by a bus” is a passive construction. But, most people would agree, the important focus in this conversation is Nancy.

Now, if you were really, really against passive voice, you could have written this entirely in active voice:
“What happened to Nancy?” he asked.
“A bus hit her on her way to work,” the receptionist said, turning on her computer.

Yes, that does work and is entirely active voice, but it shifts the focus to the bus and away from Nancy. It distances you from Nancy and makes her less important. For some people, if they are not paying close attention, they may actually think this is a non sequitur and repeat their question, because they were expecting to hear an answer that had Nancy as the subject—not a bus.

There is nothing wrong with this, but in real conversation, we often use passive voice to keep the focus on the person we are discussing, instead shifting to a thing, like a bus.

Note: some people (and therefore, characters) will prefer to use active voice in the above conversation because they prefer to keep people at a distance. By changing the subject to “the bus” the speaker may be more comfortable talking about the accident because it makes Nancy’s plight more distant and therefore, more bearable.

This is one way that you can make active/passive voice work for you—and help you define your characters. A hero who is uncomfortable with emotions and likes to keep people at a distance, may prefer to say, “A bus hit Nancy.” It’s direct, impersonal, and active. Those may be your hero’s main traits.

On the other hand, a hero who is emotionally connected to Nancy and focused on her and her tragedy, may say, “Nancy was hit by a bus this morning.” It reveals his focus on Nancy and the writer can use that to show his emotional “reference.”

This “focus effect” is why many newspaper articles use more passive voice. The news articles want to maintain the emotional focus on a particular person, especially if that person is famous.

Focus Example 2

Nancy Sinatra was walking along the beach yesterday when she was attacked by a walrus. Her body was dragged into the ocean and was later found by beachcombers.

That’s a fairly typical example you might find in a newspaper or magazine, where the really important subject is Nancy Sinatra. The reporter does not want to shift focus away from her—or her body. So he slips into passive voice to retain the emotional impact and focus. Nancy (or her body) is always emphasized.

For even more impact, this may be written (still in passive voice) as:
Nancy Sinatra was walking along the beach yesterday when she was attacked by a walrus. Nancy’s body was dragged into the ocean, and she was later found by beachcombers.

Notice here, I not only kept Nancy as the "centerpiece" of the sentence, but I reinforced this by using her name (instead of just “her body”) so that you could not “objectify” her and diminish her significance. I made it “more personal.”

Let’s dissect this further, because I don’t want you to confuse exactly what is passive about that paragraph.

Nancy Sinatra was walking along the beach yesterday – Active voice, past progressive.

When she was attacked by a walrus. – Passive voice, past progressive. The walrus is doing the attacking. Nancy is the victim (or object) of this action.

Nancy’s body was dragged into the ocean, and she was later found by beachcombers. – Passive voice, past progressive. Both parts of this sentence are passive voice.

In the first part, the walrus is still doing the action, and it’s doing it to Nancy’s body. In the second half, the beachcombers are performing the action (finding a body) and Nancy’s body is the object they found.

You could rewrite this in active voice as follows, but notice the subtle difference in emotional focus and emphasis.
Nancy Sinatra was walking along the beach when a walrus attacked her. The walrus dragged her body into the ocean and beachcombers later found the mauled remains.

When you rewrite this in active voice, the second part of the first sentence shifts the focus away from Nancy to the walrus. You de-emphasize Nancy and take a step away from her, creating distance. You are now thinking about the walrus, and it’s the walrus you are visualizing and not Nancy’s poor, lifeless corpse being dragged around.

In the final clause, you shift focus yet again to the beachcombers. This makes a further shift away from Nancy, until she becomes quite distant and unimportant. You end up deemphasizing Nancy and focusing instead on the walrus and beachcombers. Her body becomes just another piece of detritus found on the beach.

So, you don’t want to switch to active voice if you will lose your focus and emotional impact. You may have to use passive to avoid creating distance between your subject and the reader.

That said, there are times, particularly in comedic writing, when you quite deliberately want to switch focus. Active voice can be just the ticket.

Focus Example 3

Nancy Sinatra was walking along the beach when a walrus attacked her. The walrus dragged her into the ocean and ate her, resulting in a massive case of indigestion. Local wildlife rehabbers managed to capture the walrus in time to save its life. The leader of the team, Ted Wilson, blamed Nancy for her irresponsible behavior in getting eaten by an endangered species and cautioned others to avoid putting their own, ridiculous health routines above the welfare of our treasured national wildlife.

In the first sentence, you end by shifting attention to the walrus.
Then you shift from the walrus to the rehabbers.
You end with the focus entirely on the rehabbers and Ted’s advice.

That’s all active voice. And we shifted quite neatly away from Nancy to the plight of the poor walrus that ate her, and finally, to the views of a bunch of rehabbers, led by Ted Wilson.

If you were writing about Nancy’s tragic death, you’ve failed.
If you were trying to make a statement about the environment and our responsibility toward endangered species, then you succeeded. (Or, you just created a bit of sarcastic humor—depending upon your view of Ted’s advice.)

If you want to shift focus to achieve some effect, then by all means do so. Just be aware you are doing it.

Oh, and don’t let me leave you with the impression that I’m saying passive is somehow better—it’s not. If at all possible, you should use active voice. Just make sure you don’t arbitrarily and blindly “follow the rule to use active voice at all times” at the expense of your story.

And don’t assume that any sentence containing the word “was” is passive.

Life Lessons

I hope you're not expecting anything mega-brilliant. Since I usually blog on what I've learned about creative writing, tonight I thought I'd list a few things I've learned over the years. Nothing earth-shattering. Some are just plain dumb. Many are things that any normal two-year-old could have figured out. Several items are shopping-related. J

(Note: I don't really want to endorse one product over another—but some things have just worked out for me, and I believe in sharing.)

So, drum-roll please, here are a few things I've picked up over my vast number of years on this planet.

Product That Just Work

1. Crocs. I've lived a lifetime with blistered, bleeding feet—particularly when I took the advice of shoe store salesmen and got my feet measured and bought the most expensive running shoes in the place. And then, to compound my misery, lately my feet have started swelling and getting hot. Until I found Crocs. No more blisters. No more calluses. No more taking my shoes off to get through security in airports. Little happy feet.
   
   1. Hint: buy those gel insoles and put them in your Crocs. It's like an extra layer of, ahhhhhhhhhhhh, cushiness. It feels so good I want to cry. It also keeps your socks from getting caught on the Croc nubbies and twisting as your walk.
      
   2. Related hint: buy those socks especially created for people with diabetes. I don't have diabetes, but I have to tell you, socks created for people with that condition are unbelievably soft and comfortable. And if you wear them with gel insoles in your Crocs, you will bawl like a baby in relief.
      
   3. Final, related note: Who care what it looks like? It's comfortable.
      
2. Plastic sled thingies from www.cabelas.com. They are just these long, oblong sled thingies that are sort of wagon-shaped except without the wheels. They come with a nylon rope for the handle. We unhooked the nylon rope and slipped a foot-long length of old hose onto the rope, and then reattached the rope so that we would have a nice, soft, flexible handle to grip (instead of just the nylon rope). And what is this good for, you ask? GARDENING. I can't tell you how many wheel barrows and wagons I have broken over the years. Flat tires, broken axles, broken handles—not to mention the wheel barrow's complete inability to cover rough terrain (like downed trees in the woods, for example). Then we got this sled thingie and wowee! I can drag a hundred pounds of dirt around like nobody's business and it slips over fallen trees in the woods, uneven turf, over rocks, and even over those stupid brick edgings I was unwise enough to use to encircle my garden. Suddenly, I can move anything, anywhere. There is no barrier this thing can't slip over. If I can get over it, this sled can slide over it, too. I use it to haul plants, dirt, leaves, yard junk—you name it. And you can use a couple of bungee cords to hold very large stacks of branches to the sled while you drag them away, too. It's the best garden implement under $50 I've ever seen. Other places probably sell similar sleds—I just never checked out other places. So check out Cabelas. I think it's actually meant to haul dead things out of the woods, but what the heck—it's great for gardening. And it's plastic so it never rots or needs oiling or air for the tires or anything!
   
3. Doggie poo for new gardens—if you have a dog that loves to dig, just scoop up some of its "little doggie by-product" and put it around any new plantings or freshly turned over garden plots. It will keep your dog from digging there or pulling up your lovely plants. While this isn't an actual, commercial product, it works.
   

Personal Grooming

1. You can buy really, really expensive toner, or you can use witch hazel. The results are the same and witch hazel is cheaper.
   
2. You can buy really, really expensive "spot products" for those occasional breakouts, or you can take a cotton swab, drench it in rubbing alcohol, and dab it on your blemish twice a day (or more if you wish). Your blemish will go away as fast, or faster, than it would if you used a more trendy product.
   
3. Baby powder makes a great face powder if you are very fair. In fact, it does a better job of hiding pores than a lot of expensive, commercial products.
   

Life in General

1. You're better off with someone your own age after you hit 50. Yeah, I know—you don't have to tell me about all those great relationships with others of disparate ages. Here's the thing. As you get older, life just keeps getting more and more humiliating. You wake up at 2 a.m. and can't get back to sleep—but you inexorably fall asleep at 3 p.m. You have colonoscopies, things cut or burned off your face (or other areas of your body), age spots, hair loss, sagging skin, dietary issues, reading glasses—you name it. I have to tell you, if you're with someone roughly your own age with whom you can share the reading glasses, compare prescriptions, eat the same diets, and in general are going through everything you're going through, it is an unbelievable relief. It's nice just to be able to share all the discomfort, pain, trials & tribulations with someone who is experiencing the same thing. You're not alone. You don't have to hide anything. You're not becoming weird and creepy. You can grow weird and creepy right along with them.
   
2. Right along with the previous item: try to look good, but be honest, 50 is not even close to being the new 40. 40 is 40 and 50 is 50. And if you're 50 and trying to pretend to the world that you're 40, well, get over it. I believe in staying fit and looking as good as you can, but I'm not trying to make people think I'm something I'm not, mostly because I don't want the embarrassment of explaining later that, no, I'm not really 40. You can't hide your age forever: and as Popeye says, "I am what I am." And there is a lot less stress when you actually realize it. Just take a deep breath and let it all out.
   
3. Smile. That's almost, like, the answer to Life, the universe, and everything. Just smile—it's turning on the light switch to the soul. All of a sudden, good things start coming your way. You're more popular. People think you're nice. You'll feel better. It's shocking and amazing.
   

Lastly, go and read a good book with a happy ending. It'll make you feel better. Trust me.

That's it for tonight. My little list of miscellany.

Words of Wisdom

No matter where you are or what level you've attained in life or your job, there is always something new to learn, each and every day. In fact, it is rare that I don't learn something every day, even if it is only a confirmation that I don't know as much as I thought I did. Which is pretty sad considering I had a number of teachers in High School and College who tried to convince me that I knew more than I thought I did. In reality, I think I knew less than they thought I did.

In any event, in my journey as a writer, I've had many pearls of wisdom thrown at me. Some were just silly (if your heroine isn't sympathetic, give her a pet cat) and some were really important.

Make sure the reader understands the character and character's motivations from the beginning.

That's harder than it sounds because it is so drilled in to writers that they shouldn't spend pages on background info that can be "dribbled in" as needed later. Yes, sort of true, but the reader at least needs to understand the character's current situation, even if it just "superficial" and doesn't explain the deep, dark issues.

I do have to say, however, as a reader, that I actually prefer it if the author gives me one or two pages about the character to give me at least an overview of how the character got to where they are when the book starts. But then, I always like things explained to me. My favorite part of any mystery is at the end where the hero (or heroine) sums up everything and explains why the bad guy did what he did and how the hero figured it all out.

Motivate the action tags.

Another place where I figured the reader would just know and I shouldn't be explaining… Yes and no. What this means is that, if your character flushes, you need to give us at least a hint as to why. Because people can flush for any one of a number of reasons, including anger or humiliation. Most actions can be interpreted in a number of ways and the reader isn't there to see all the body language, so you have to clue them in. She touched the lace of her collar with nervous fingers. It's the word nervous that clues the reader into the fact that the heroine is nervous—her gesture reveals that. However, it is vastly different than the less-than-helpful tag: She touched the lace of her collar.

As a writer, I was trying to avoid telling the reader what the character's emotions were, I wanted the gestures and conversation to show what the character was feeling. The problem was, I wrote things like: She rubbed her palms against her skirt. This left the reader with the image, but no real notion of why the character was doing this. Was she nervous and wiping away the dampness of her palms? Was she trying to control her anger?

You see the issue.

Make sure the action and reaction is in the proper sequential order.

Thomas stood in the doorway and remarked, "It's sure cold in here." When Sylvia refused to acknowledge his presence, he crossed his legs and picked up a magazine, completely prepared to ignore her, too.

The problem in the above paragraph is not one of sequence so much as leaving out an important point. Thomas must have taken a seat at some point, but it isn't mentioned. So the reader is left with the jarring sensation if missing something, since not too many people can cross their legs while they are standing up and still keep their balance.

Thomas said, "Nice work, Alice!"

Alice fumed behind her desk, wishing she had her own office.

Now, in the above sequence, it sounds like Alice resents what Thomas said and wishes she didn't have to share an office with him. But, what if the author meant you to understand that Thomas saw Alice fuming over her lack of privacy and tried to cheer her up by saying, "Nice work, Alice!". That's a sequence problem. You would have to switch the two sentences if Thomas' statement is in reaction to Alice's foul mood. If Alice's foul mood is in reaction to Thomas' statement, then the sequence is appropriate as show above.

Tricky, right?

Just a few things to think about as you write your way into the New York Times Bestseller list!

Creating a Press Sheet

For once, I'm blogging on Tuesday night according to schedule—will wonders never cease?

Maybe it's just because I actually know what I want to write about this week. It's how to create a press sheet for your book. A press sheet is a one page "everything you need to know" bulletin that you can use when promoting your book. You can use it when you talk to booksellers and librarians, and more importantly, when you give information to the press. It is a critical component of your media or press kit and may be the only thing a lot of people read.

For librarians and booksellers, it gives them all the information they need to order your book. And if you include the right information, it may spark them to decide to buy your book.

This is sometimes called a fact sheet. For those of you with a business background, you can think of it as sort of an Executive Summary.

And it's ridiculously simple to create.

I created a press sheet for my book, SMUGGLED ROSE, so I'll use that as a sample template.

Top Section: Just the facts, Ma'am, just the facts…

The top section is everything a buyer needs to know about your book. It should include title, date of publication, ISBN, publisher information, distributor information, and the list price. Here is the top section for SMUGGLED ROSE.

Smuggled Rose | Amy Corwin

 

Title:	Smuggled Rose	Distribution:	Baker & Taylor
Author:	Amy Corwin		Jasmine-Jade
Date of publication:	May 3, 2007		[www.jasminejade.com]
Price:	$9.99	Publisher:	Cerridwen Press
ISBN:	9781419956447		Ellora's Cave Publishing
Intended Audience:	Adult		1056 Home Avenue Akron OH, 44310
Format:	Trade Paperback	Phone:	330-253-3521
Genre:	Traditional Regency	FAX:	330-253-3531
		e-Mail:	service@ellorascave.com

 

 

Middle Section: Tease me, tempt me…

The middle section includes a pretty picture of your front cover and the blurb from the back cover. Hopefully, your blurb will be so fascinating that whoever is looking at your press sheet (or reading the back of your book) will immediately have
to buy your book. So, here is the middle section for SMUGGLED ROSE.

 

Summary:

A cynical earl and a rose smuggler are an unlikely pair, particularly when the smuggler is a supposedly fallen woman the earl owes for saving his brother's life.

Nonetheless, Michael, the earl of Ramsgate, is determined to repay his family's debt by presenting Margaret at Court—an action calculated to repair even the worst reputation. But Margaret has been burned before and is suspicious that Michael's intentions aren't entirely honorable…despite the certainty in her heart that she can trust him.

As the tension between them flares and Michael's feelings for Margaret strain his self-control, an old enemy bent on revenge returns to challenge Michael's iron determination…and threatens to take Margaret away from him forever.

 

 

 

 

Final Section: Wonderful me…

The final section includes a very, very brief biography and one or two reviews. Remember, all of this must fit on one sheet of paper, and visually, the more white space, the more appealing. So if you must err, err on the side of brevity and succinctness. This is not the time to drone on and on and on… But you do want to catch your audience's attention and leave them with the sense that they would like to meet you and that you are a successful author. Here is the final section for the SMUGGLED ROSE press sheet.

 

About the author:

Amy Padgett has been writing award winning Regency romances and romantic mysteries for nearly a decade. Smuggled Rose, her first Traditional Regency, was also the first of her titles to be published by Cerridwen Press for their Cotillion line. She worked as the editor and contributor for the Wilmington Cape Fear Rose Society Newsletter for three years and currently grows over 100 old garden roses.

From the reviewers:

"With precise attention to not only societal rules but also characterization, Amy Corwin has authored a riveting traditional Regency romance that packs a lot of punch. Rich with the romanticism of the era that appeals to this reader, SMUGGLED ROSE is a sumptuous tale of love and learning to trust." —Romance Review Today

 

To give you a feel for how this looks "in toto" here is an image of the SMUGGLED ROSE press sheet. The page is obviously "shrunken" and included merely to give you a visual of white space and layout, rather than read the text. In reality, of course, this is perfectly legible and prints out on standard 8.5 x 11" paper.

That's pretty much all there is to it.

And after you create this, you can have the fun of putting together the rest of your media kit, including such items as a cover letter, any news clippings/articles about you, additional reviews, a longer bio sheet, sample questions & answers (e.g. if you are requesting an interview), public appearance schedule, a publicity photo of you, and so on.

Media/press kits can be as elaborate or simple as the need (and your budget) dictates, but in all cases, you should always include your press sheet.

That's it!

Good luck.