Why Regency?

When you're a writer, you often get asked questions which make you think about your creative process. This can be a good thing because it forces you to be conscious of the decisions you are making. Recently, someone asked me why I had chosen the Regency period for my books. Like many of my decisions, there are multiple reasons and going through them all helps me understand my choices and do a better job writing within my chosen framework.

So…why did I choose the Regency?

First and foremost: I love Georgette Heyer. Maybe that wasn't clear. I love Georgette Heyer. I wish I could write like Georgette Heyer. In fact, if I had never read a single book by her, I'm not sure I would have wanted to be a writer. Hmmm. That may be too strong a statement. I might still have wanted to write, but I'm not sure I would have wanted it so badly. Between Heyer, Saki, and Wodehouse, I had no choice but to become a writer.

Oh, wait. I didn't even tell you what the Regency is. It's a time period: the early years of the 19^th century, from around 1811 to 1820, when King George III of England was not quite competent and a Regent in the form of his son, George IV, sort of ruled in his stead. Most books set during the Regency period are also set somewhere in the United Kingdom. Such books are also commonly referred to as "Regencies" with a sort of artificial division between traditional Regencies and Regency historicals. Regency historicals focus very intensely on the romantic relationship between a man and a woman and are generally very sensual (hot). Traditional Regencies—while still romances—often are less intensely focused on the romantic relationship and include a "broader view" of Society in general or other elements such as suspense, mystery, or adventure. Georgette Heyer, for example, would be considered to write traditional Regencies. As far as publishers are concerned, the Regency period is somewhat extended to include from the late 18^th century through about 1825 or so, and the focus has shifted toward Regency historicals and away from traditional Regencies.

For my purposes as a writer, I was interested in this period for several reasons (Heyer not withstanding).

I knew I wanted to move into writing mysteries: romantic mysteries with a bit of adventure. The Regency period was right before true law enforcement agencies as we know them today existed, so you could have private citizens and inquiry agents assist in, or conduct an investigation into a murder without some of the convoluted reasoning authors need for contemporary mysteries which don't have a law enforcement person as the main investigator. Sir Robert Peel became Home Secretary in England in 1822, and he is the one who helped rework many of the existing British laws and created the Metropolitan Police Force in London in 1829 (hence, London police earned the nickname of "peelers"). If I set stories before 1829, I have a lot more freedom in terms of conducting a murder investigation (or rather, my characters have more latitude in conducting a murder investigation). There was also the lovely organization known as the Bow Street Runners, which through the mists of time has assumed an attractive patina of romance.

As a gardener, the first half of the 19^th century brought about absolutely amazing developments in horticulture, particularly rose hybridization, which is another love of mine (hence, my first book entitled "Smuggled Rose"). All the explorers running around brought back plants from all over the world and experts were busy creating new hybrids… I won't bore you by going on about this, but it was a truly remarkable period of time. Science was exploding by leaps and bounds. Even germs were eventually invented, and we learned not to drink from the same glass as someone else. How cool is that?

Anyway, the period is close enough to our time to be recognizable and yet far enough away to be quaint and romantic. Men were men (and the sheep ran scared—but not too fast). People occasionally bathed. Duels were outlawed, but still occurred conveniently enough to give a few heroes—and heroines—some early morning angst. There were smugglers and aristocratic French refugees. The Napoleonic wars. Adventures which were romantic when they took place in the 19^th century, but would be just stupid, scary, or too darn serious if they took place today.

I am also interested in freedom and a person's place within Society. Regency Society had more "social rules" which are fun to play against and provide a bottomless source for comic escapades that simply would not work in our modern society. As you might guess, because I am interested in the interplay between personal freedom and Societal restrictions, my stories tend more toward traditional Regencies than Regency historicals.

There is also the fact that my heroines can have hordes of servants, wear fabulous long dresses and jewels, and spend their days writing subtly insulting letters to each other while eyeing the footmen. What's not to love? No e-mail. No Internet. No computers. No cell phones. No explaining away why they couldn't just pick up the phone and call the police (although they could send one of the footmen after a Bow Street Runner).

Yeah, that's the ticket: the Regency. A kinder, gentler period for romance and murder…

Hurry Up and Wait

This publishing business...well, what can I say? Everything takes for-ever, except what they expect you to do.

First, you spend years (or for some people, months) sending out queries and the first three chapters of manuscripts trying to get a nibble, a bite, or even a rejection letter addressed to you--specifically--instead of Dear Author. Even rejections take obscene amounts of time (mostly because the editors are dealing with many hundreds of authors while you're just dealing with a few editors or agents--or are hoping to deal with a few).

Then, you get a nibble, send in your complete manuscript and wait again. Maybe as long as a year. If by some miracle, they decide they are interested in your feeble attempts to write, you wait for a contract. When they finally send it to you, they expect it back like the next day. High priority.

Waiting begins again while they think about everything and tear your work to shreds. Then they ask for revisions (unless you're perfect, and some are, but then, I also think there are aliens among us who are secretly snickering at us from behind their latex, hominid masks). They ask for revisions and you've got to get the revised version right back, right away. After another period of waiting and wringing your hands, you may even get another round of revisions or just final copy edits, which have to be shipped high priority, right away back to them.

Hmmm. Okay. So anything you have to do, has to be done like yesterday, almost before you were even aware it had to be done, but anything they have to do can take weeks, months, even years. Has anyone ever heard of a reasonable timeframe, or is that reserved for those aliens in the face masks?

And folks wonder why authors feel like being a Wal-Mart greeter might really be a great job after all. In fact, that may be my new goal in life. To be a Wal-Mart greeter. Or maybe be the guy who mows the lawn along the highway. Something with no deadlines.

'Cause I'm sitting here waiting for my edits for my first novel which is due out on May 3, and it's like Feb 20, and I'm like...uh...okay, when am I going to get my first edits, because it goes: first edits, I do them and send it back, copy edits, I do them and send it back, and the book comes out. I just have this horrible feeling I'm going to get the edits and have like 24 hours to get them done, and believe it or not, I actually have a day job which consumes 40-60 hours a week, and I've got some business trips scheduled...

Okay, so my schedule isn't important, but I'm one of those crazy people who, when given an assignment, actually starts work on it immediately because... If I finish early, I can set it aside, because invariably, I think of things I need to change or add, and this gives me time to change or add those things I think of. :-) Or...if I run into difficulties, I have time to straighten them out. I do not like emergency situations foisted upon me by others simply because they could not manage their own time and give me my assignment so I have a reasonable amount of time to work on it. Their emergency should not become my emergency.

I can say that because I deal with emergencies every day, mostly created by people who didn't think before they clicked "OK" as in: OK, go ahead and delete all the user logon accounts including my boss and his boss, because I'm an idiot admin and thought I was deleting my dog's test account when in reality I was deleting the entire organizational unit containing all the really high muckety-muck's logon accounts. And even though the system asked me TWICE if I wanted to delete it and all the things (i.e. user logon accounts) it contained, I clicked "OK". So now, no one can log in and get their e-mail and my boss is complaining.

Yeah. I fix stuff like that all day for people who should know better, so you can understand why I'm a little...anxious...to get to the editing portion of this publishing process, so that I'm not sitting up at the last minute trying to edit my manuscript after a long day of fixing idiot admin mistakes.

Here I am, sitting here, fretting. I love my editor and don't want to piss her off, because she's the first person who really got me and my writing, but I need to get those edits. If I e-mail her, will she feel like I'm bugging her? Will she hate me? She asked me to do some "pre-edits" to cut the manuscript down further since we were bumping up against the limit on number of words and I sort of didn't do such a great job and only cut about 1,500 words, but I was already down to the bone. The original manuscript was 100,000 words and I had already cut it down to 75,000 to fit the 75,000 limit. It was almost to the point of rearranging sentences to eek out one more word here and there...

So you can see, I really don't want to push her, having failed to significantly cut down the manuscript the last time she asked me to do something... But...I need those edits. It's almost the end of Feb. In March I have a week long business trip with long days, so we're talking 3 weeks left in March. Then April. That's it--it's released May 3. I have to squeeze the main editing/revisions and copy edits in March and April. WAAAAAAAAH...I'm sitting here crying, feeling an emergency slithering up on me like an alligator crawling out of the sewers...

Novels and Writing

I may have talked about this before--I'm not sure, mostly because I'm on travel and am scatterbrained. Anyway, it's snowing here in Chicago and I can't get to the bookstore, which is a real bummer because one of the big bonuses for me when I travel to Chicago is to get to bookstores. They are the highlight of my pathetic life.

So, anyway, I've finished two of the three novels I brought with me and one of them...I think I've read before. I bought it recently because it looked interesting (I always buy books based on the blurb on the back cover--I generally don't "follow" specific authors--I just read the back and hope for the best). Anyway, when I got about 7/8th through the book, I had this feeling that I knew how it was going to play out, and I had this vague sense of deja vu.

Which got me thinking about a previous thing I had read about literary fiction versus "commercial fiction" or, the stuff they force you to read in school, versus the paperbacks you pick up from the bookstore voluntarily. Although I do pick up a goodly number of paperbacks which were once commercial fiction (maybe 200 years ago) and are now considered literary fiction. I have no idea how they "decide" when something that was commercial is now old enough to be literary. I'm wondering, for example, if Agatha Christie or Georgette Heyer will be considered literary in another 100 years or so.

Anyway, the point is, someone said somewhere that literary fiction is stuff you remember while commercial fiction is stuff you don't. Except, I have no better recollection of literary junk I was forced to read, than I do of commercial junk I've read. In fact, I think I remember some of the commercial junk, better. In fact, I know it. Because the books I remember the most clearly are: The Ghost of Dibble Hollow, The Ghost Rock Mystery, and Swiss Family Robinson. All of which I read when I was 7 and remember very clearly. I think my mind was empty enough at that point to have room to remember these stories. Thereafter, as teachers filled up the vacant spots, I started remembering less and less of what I read.

Today, I'm lucky if I remember a vague "feeling" associated with a book, or a scene with two characters, whose names I've forgotten, doing something I've mostly forgotten, but I remember what I thought they looked like and a certain setting and/or picture stopped-in-time of what they might have been doing. I never remember names. I also never remember plots, which is how I end up buying books multiple times unless I take careful notes about what I've read and have not read. I tend to remember even less about literary fiction, although I do remember I despised Madame Bovary, thought she was the stupidest woman I'd ever heard of, and she totally deserved what happened to her--although I can't exactly remember what happened to her or what she did in that book to deserve her fate and my contempt.

What is the point of this, other than to prove I have no memory of anything? Well, even a reader with a terrible memory walks away with something from a book, even if they can't remember the characters, the plot, or the ending. Or even the author's name or the name of the book. The reader may even walk away with a couple of things: a feeling/mood, and perhaps a few snippets like still picture or perhaps a small "trailer" like clip.

Which leads me to a point some other author made--about the most important things you need to do as a writer. Create a feeling. That's critical. If you're really good, you create a series of feelings like laughter, tension, perhaps sadness (although I tend not to like books which "pull at the heartstrings" or have sad parts--I especially tend not to re-read them, but that's just me) and finally, leave you with a strong emotion.

And readers will only bond with the character(s) and get strong emotion if they understand the character's motivation, and that motivation makes sense in terms of the story. The heroine can't be too-stupid-to-live. The hero can't be a jerk--at least not all the time. They have to have flaws, weaknesses, and recognizeably human emotions. This is not easy. Some writers are so talented that by the end of the first paragraph--sometimes with the first sentence--the hero/heroine has hooked the reader, and the reader has bonded with them. Once this happens, unless the writer stumbles badly, the story will flow and something--perhaps just an elusive emotion--will stick with the reader.

How the writer accomplishes this is nearly impossible to describe. I have thought on it deeply, and it is difficult because there are many ways to accomplish this, and the methods are all, generally, combinations of writing techniques and not just one single, beautiful thing that a writer could master easily. Word choices, descriptions that are neither over-the-top-excessive nor completely lacking--stuff like that is crucial. Character actions and dialog that is precisely right for that character and only that character--that could never be appropriate to any other character also helps.

Lots of stuff like that. Which is completely unhelpful if you are struggling to actually climb to this pinnacle of perfection. But if you want to learn--read. Read the best authors and as many authors as you can. See what works for you as a reader and then break it down. Try to identify techniques that you--the writer--can master and use within your own, personal style of writing.

The hardest thing is to realize that what works for one author and one reader, will not necessarily work for another author, or some other reader. The best-selling authors have figured out what works for them and the majority of readers.

Personally, I prefer a book that leaves me with a strong feeling of happiness and satisfaction, where all the ends are wrapped up, and the characters have gotten their just deserts--which hopefully includes two of them bonding for life. Although I'm also happy if the wicked get what they deserve. That is part of the appeal of a mystery, where the crooks/murderer's get got or at least punished severely, unlike real life where there is often very little satisfaction or sense of justice. If a book leaves me very happy, I may remember the author's name long enough to actually look for another book by him or her.

Other readers may prefer books that tug their heartstrings and make them cry. They will search out authors who can do that.

So, you need to know what you are aiming at if you want to hit anything at all.

The second important thing is to create at least one really memorable scene, picture, snippet, action clip--whatever you want to call it. Something that will stick in a reader's mind. For me, this is most often the scene which encapsulates the core conflict. The scene where the major problem in the book is revealed and the hero and heroine, or hero and villain, square off. That scene must be strong and it must be clear. What is at stake? What will happen if the hero wins? What will happen if the villain wins? This is what will make the book something a reader will remember, or it could just turn the book into a vaguely nice experience that is completely forgotten after the last page if the core conflict is weak or muddy.

In fact, I would postulate that if you can create a strong, pivotal scene, the preceding and succeeding scenes can almost be mediocre (they really can't be bad) and you can still have a successful book. Although if the rest is just sort of mediocre, you really will need a good ending to tie everything up--you can't just totally depend upon that one, great pivotal scene if the story's ending leaves all the plot lines loose, flabby, and sagging over their belts.

So...as I re-read this prior to posting, I'm thinking it's all idiotic rubbish and completely unhelpful, but like I said, it's snowing outside and my brain turned to mush hours ago.

Writing to Improve

Writing Descriptions...
I’ve written in the past about how to develop a description that is effective and doesn’t just annoy your readers. Mostly, I’m studying various aspects of writing because I want to improve my own writing so that someday, I will be picked up by a big publishers and sell a billion copies.

Unfortunately, I have a sneaking suspicion that I will never write in a way which will make me a best-selling author and it is tearing me apart. Why would I say this? Well, because out of all the best-selling authors, most of them write in a way that sets my teeth on edge. There is one hugely successful author who writes books at a rate almost no one can match, and will soon have movies made from her books, etc, and I’ve tried several times to read her books and could never get past the first few pages. What is really weird is that I never knew she was this big-time, awe-inspiring, fabled author until maybe a couple of years ago (I would be like...N—who?) and I would pick up her books and just couldn’t read ‘em. What is really weird is that she writes in several genres under different names, and not realizing this, I had picked her up in her various incarnations (all unknowing) and couldn’t read any of her stuff under any of her names and didn't even know they were all written by the same person. I had no idea they were all written by her until years later, after I had already decided I would never buy any more books by X, Y and Z.

Anyway, the point is she is this awe-inspiring, best-selling author and in most of the writer “how-to” stuff I’ve read, they all hold up examples of writing either from her, or very similar, as “this is what you should be emulating”. The writers I absolutely love are not best-sellers. In fact, one of my very favorite authors is having problems getting her books published in the U.S. simply because they don’t sell so well here (although they sell very well elsewhere).

So my dilemma is: do I try to write in my way, which is not the best-selling author way, or…will I always be a low-level author? Oh, yeah, I’ve seen the comments: “If you’re looking for passion, this isn’t your book” kind of comments because I don’t have my characters jump into bed or spend their time gazing at each others’ crotches. I believe there CAN be passion and love without the writer going into detail about that and I don’t force my characters into anything. If they jump in bed and describe it, fine, but if they don’t due to…whatever circumstances…then I’m okay with that, too. It is not a requirement for a story and I find it alarming that this seems to be the sole deciding factor now as to whether a book is good or not. Really depressing.

More importantly, I don’t like all these perfect heroes and heroines. I don’t like excessive descriptions or flowery junk. In fact, I almost prefer to have no descriptions of the characters at all, because as a reader, I build up what they look like in my head anyway, and it is almost never how the author describes them—which means descriptions make this jarring sort of double-layered effect in my head. That’s why I keep obsessing over descriptions.

Here is a description most people adore:
Her eyes betrayed her, flashing a green fire reminiscent of lightning over a stormy sea.

Why don’t I like it? It stopped me cold. Lightning at sea is blue-white, not green unless you're talking certain circumstances and then it's this sickly sort of baby-poop yellow-green which is not particularly attractive. And why do all heroine’s have green eyes, anyway? (In my first book, I tried to toe the romance line and actually had a heroine with green eyes, before I grew totally fed up with it and stopped having ridiculously over-the-top beautiful characters in my later books. Never again. Probably. Desperation does make you do sad things, though.)

And what does this poetic description have to do with anything? Nothing. Does it say anything about the man who says it? Is he a sailor? No. It reveals nothing about him nor does it seem like something he would naturally be thinking. He’s probably thinking, “Damn, she looks pissed.”

As I try to improve my writing, I’m actively looking at these aspects. I’m finding that very rarely are flowery descriptions or overly gorgeous characters appealing to me.
However, lest you think I abhor all descriptions and attractive characters, not so! Here is part of a description I love and can find no fault with:

Miss Charing was a rather diminutive Brunette. She had a neat figure, very pretty hands and feet, and a countenance which owed much to a pair of large dark eyes…

The major difference is that there is an amused quality to this that appeals to me, and it is the sort of thing you can imagine the other characters actually thinking. I know of no one on this planet who would think, when seeing a pissed off—but beautiful woman— Her eyes betrayed her, flashing a green fire reminiscent of lightning over a stormy sea.

I can’t even imagine a poet thinking that—unless he was sitting down trying to come up with something…poetical. Most people when seeing someone’s eyes “flash” are thinking of ways to get the heck out of there. In fact, most men, when confronted by a woman with flashing eyes, are going to be searching for the nearest exit to avoid a scene. They are not going to be standing around reminiscing about lightning over the ocean, even if they happen to know what that looks like (and apparently this one didn’t).

I’m not bashing the author who wrote this (God knows, they are making more at writing than I am and doing a better job of it—and are vastly more popular and romantic) but I am…well…I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m trying to figure out how to improve my writing and NOT get slammed about it not being sensual enough, or romantic enough. (You’re right. I’m not romantic. I can’t stand that stuff and I loathe Valentine’s day unless it means winning the lottery and getting a new computer.)

There has got to be a way to improve my writing that doesn’t make me want to gnaw off my arm. However, I do know one thing, I’m going to try to write descriptions that sound like what someone might actually think under the circumstances. If it works, it will be a miracle, but it’s the only improvement I can think of at the moment.

Oh, and since I've a book coming out, I should add that it is absolutely wonderful and perfect, and anything I talk about like trying to improve my writing is just gilding on an already perfect work of art. Artists are never satisfied with their works of art, even though they are absolutely wonderful by anyone else's standards. It's romantic, too. Really. Even without the explicit sex. They DO kiss--several times in fact.
(Just shoot me, now.)

Writing: How-To

Okay, so the title is sort of misleading. I have no idea how to write; I'm learning as I go along. There is a pair of writers, however, who do seem to know how to write and are in the process of writing tutorials for other writers: Jenny Crusie and Bob Mayer. They are hosting an online writing workshop for the rest of us knuckle-dragging, arse-scratching hominids who are barely able to speak in comprehensible grunts much less write. Hey, don't get insulted, I'm referring to myself. I have no idea what you look like.

Anyway, Crusie and Mayer are doing a much better and more expert job at dispensing advice to writers than I ever could and I really, really encourage you to drop me like a slimy, rotten potato and rush on over to http://www.crusiemayer.com. You don't even have to sign up, and if you're into RSS feeds, you can get their material force-fed to you that way. If you're puzzled about any aspect of the current lesson, you can e-mail them and perhaps get an answer posted to the site.

You can't say I never gave you anything. If you don't take this opportunity to learn something from two people who are undoubtedly experts in the field of writing, than shame on you.

The Crusie/Mayer workshop is also very interesting from a "how to go about starting" this writing gig. I've been struggling with trying to write more quickly and yet more better. (You see what I mean? More better?) Sorry. Anyway, I've worked with some writers--and have done this myself--who outline and then write. As they write, they are constantly going back to earlier chapters and smoothing them out. By the time they finish, their first draft is what for others might be the third or fourth draft.

On the other side of the fence are those who may or may not do a lot of up-front outlining and who rip through their first draft, just writing until it's done. Then they go back and smooth it out, juggle chapters around, and fix everything.

To use Mayer's summary: the first bunch frontloads the work and the second bunch backloads it. If you frontload, you work a lot of stuff out in the beginning and edit as you write so that by the end of the "draft" you have very little editing or rewriting to do. Most of the work is done in the beginning: up front. If you backload, you do very little work in the beginning and work on getting the story down on paper (or rather, into the computer). Then comes the massive editing, rewrites, etc, so most of the work is done on the back end of the process, after the first draft is done.

I've been trying to decide which technique results in the fastest production. After trying both, well, I think they both take just about the same amount of time. But there are pitfalls to each approach. Mayer didn't really go into the pitfalls, but I can tell you the following based upon my own experiences. Hopefully, this will "add value" to what you can learn from the Crusie and Mayer workshop.

Frontloading Your Work

• For folks who are "pantsters" and like to write and discover their story along the way, trying to develop the outline, do all the research, etc, may kill the story for them. They may find by the time they finish the outline, they are no longer interested in actually writing it. For these folks, backloading may be the better solution.
  
• If you are given to extreme fits of anal behavior, frontloading can be the La Brea Tar Pit of writing techniques. Consider:
  
  * You may spend far too much time on perfecting the outline, instead of just finishing the outline (which no one is going to see but you, anyway, so it doesn't have to be freakin' perfect) and actually starting to write the story itself.
  
  * You may spend far too much doing research because it's fun. Do only what is necessary for the book. Don't dive down rabbit holes just because they're there.
  
  * Even worse, when you do start writing and polishing as you're writing, remember that you actually do need to move on to page 2. Do not get caught in the trap of endlessly nit-picking and editing what you previously wrote so that you never write the next bit or finish the book. You do want to actually finish a first draft, and remember that this is a first draft and does not have to be p-e-r-f-e-c-t because you actually can edit it again when you are done with the first draft. No one is going to force you to immediately send it out to an agent/publisher (unless you have a contract and the manuscript is due tomorrow--in which case I wonder what you are doing here, reading this, when you should be working...).

There are probably many other cautions, but by now you ought to see the point. If you're inclined toward perfectionism, frontloading can be seductive and yet infected with all sorts of little hard-to-cure, easily transmitted nasties.

And yet, least you think backloading is a dream come true, let me enlighten you.

Backloading Your Work

• For a "pantster" who wants the story to unfold from the mysterious depths of their mind, constantly delighting them with the brilliantly unexpected twists and turns, backloading may seem like The Answer. Sort of. It can also be the best way there is to write crap. Because if you're the sort of person who is over-taxed and in a hurry, you'll finish that draft and may be tempted to just do a few passes through to edit it, get tired of reading the blasted thing, and then send it out.
• Because you've backloaded, you may not have thought out the plot and you may find there are major temporal holes in the thing or that you need to move chapters or chunks around or, gulp, delete entire sections. Some people cannot be ruthless with their own writing. Think about it. If you've written this absolutely amazing scene, but it actually is not needed by the story, are you able to cut it out? Even knowing that you'll never, ever be able to use it? Because let's face it, that scene was written for those two characters in this specific book, and it would never work with any other characters in any other book. So it's gone. Dust. History. Fried with Round-Up. Can you do that? Really?
• In a similar vein, are you going to get bored with all the editing and end that phase too soon? Because remember, you were the one who got bored if you wrote an outline before you wrote the book. How many times can you go through the book to fix it, now that it's written? And now that your prose is down there on the paper (or computer screen) is it deathless or does it just seem that way? Are you able to overhaul it if it needs it?

I've outlined and then written stuff slowly, editing as I went and almost didn't finish the story because I kept going down rabbit-holes, so I know how that goes. In an effort to cure that, I've written from the seat of my pants, just blasting it out, and then faced the horrors of massive edits including cutting out my favorite scenes, and getting so tired of editing, editing, editing because of all the flaws in the first draft that I have been known to (gulp) send things to my agent prematurely just to get them out of my face.

I've been on both sides now. Neither is pretty or easy.

However. I have to agree with old Bob (sorry, Bob, I think I'm actually older than you are, so my apologies, old boy) that frontloading may actually, in the long run, be the most effective. Because it means less wasted effort, editing while material is fresh (as you write it) and if you can control yourself, you may actually finish. And what you end up with is pretty darn good so there are fewer rewrites at this point. There will, of course, be rewrites when your agent and editor get a-hold of it, but that's to be expected.

So, on the whole, I think frontloading may be marginally better. Maybe. The jury is sort of still out on that, though, and a lot depends upon you and what sort of weaknesses you have.

Now, the question is, what is your process going to look like?

Intelligence, Hope, and Writing

Recently, I read an article by a very famous author who mentioned how important hope and perseverance is to any writer. I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, she used a scientific study to illustrate her point, and I was suddenly reminded of my days as a biology student and how easy it is to think you are testing one thing, when you are in fact testing something else entirely. The study she mentioned in her article was fundamentally flawed.

Of course, the problem could have been in how the study was described, or in the author’s interpretation of it, rather than a flaw in the design itself. I have no idea what the actual thesis was under evaluation or how the test was framed. All I know is how this author described it and her conclusion.

What was the study? Two groups of rats were thrown into tubs of water. Group A was thrown into a tub of water that contained nothing but a lot of water. Group B was thrown into a tub of water that contained a small, submerged island. If Group B swam around enough, they could find the island and stand on it, thereby being able to rest and breathe.

When the two groups of rats were thrown into another vat of water without an island, low-and-behold, Group B kept valiantly swimming around, looking for that darn island. Group A pretty much just gave up.

Now the conclusion this author came to was that if you have hope and start from a positive place, you’ll keep going long after the others have given up. This is really critical for a writer because sometimes it takes a lot of rejections over long years before you finally get find the right editor and get published. And you’ll go longer if you can find and treasure any encouragement along the way—sort of like those submerged islands.

However, what this test really showed had nothing to do with hope or even the beneficial effects of positive thinking upon perseverance. It was really more about learning. Maybe even intelligence.

Group A learned very quickly that the faster they gave up, i.e. stopped swimming, the sooner they’d be rescued and put back into their nice, warm cage with food and water (assuming they wanted water after this). Who the heck wants to stand tip-toed on a submerged island in a bucket of water, gasping for air, when they can be removed and put back in their nice cage? Group B never learned this because they were given a crutch to lean on, er, an island. They never learned that if they just pretended to drown, they’d be taken out of the cold, nasty water and put back in their nice habitat.

In effect, what this proved was that you’re stupid to persevere. The faster you give up all efforts and hope, the sooner you’ll be back in your nice, old rut where you can grow fat, dumb and happy until the end of your days.

So is it better to be smart or is it better to be hopeful?

If you’re a writer, it’s definitely better to forget about being smart, because being smart just means giving up before you waste all that time, effort, tears, blood and sweat over something which may never pan out and which will probably not grant you the luxurious living you know you deserve, anyway. And even if you do succeed, do you really need all those reviewers hacking your work apart with snide comments about how your work has degenerated lately?

Mankind did not get where it is, however, by just giving up. Stupid or not, all of our great strides forward and all of our works of art, including literary, were made by people who, like Group B, never learned any better. Or if they did understand how futile their efforts might be, they decided to just keep on swimming anyway and hope to find that little island. And they were willing to drown to do it.

While the test itself was flawed (at least how it was described by this author) and did not support the author’s argument, the author was still right. If we are going to accomplish anything at all, we have to keep working at it despite all the naysayers and evidence that says we are idiots just wasting our time. Is writing really more a waste of time than, say, watching television each night?

Every one of us has a dream, something we’d like to accomplish in our very short lifetime. While striving to attain that dream may not be the intelligent or sensible thing to do, it is the important and hopeful thing to do and it brings out the best in us. We would attain nothing, be nothing, create nothing if we did not continue in the face of adversity to go for the gold.

So, strangely enough, even though that famous author used the wrong example, she was still…right. Maybe not so intelligent, but certainly hopeful.

Ultramobile Gadgets and e-Book Reading

It occurred to me that as an extension of my previous post about progress, e-books, and Sony's new e-book reader, that folks might like to actually SEE what I'm babbling about, without having to search the web.

It is my belief that no one wants to carry around a backpack full of gadgets that only do one thing. You can get a cell phone that also lets you read your mail (awkwardly, but you can) and listen to MP3s. Or you can get a good MP3 player like an iPod, but now you're carrying a cell phone AND an MP3 player. Then there are e-books. Are you going to carry around a third device just to read books?

Hmmm.

What if you could carry around a cell phone and a second device that was like an itty-bitty computer that would let you: read your email; play mp3s; watch videos; do your homework/office work on standard applications; and read e-books. And it's in color.

Hmmm. No brainer?

Well, everything is a tradeoff.

Sony's e-Book reader is not sexy, is locked into their store, is B&W although it can--in a clunky way--play MP3s and display B&W jpgs. On the other hand, the battery has good life--it could probably exceed my 10 hour mark, and you can--with some messing around--download PDFs and read those, as well as html. It's also under $400. Oh, and let's not forget that the screen and text resolution are amazing, so it is a pleasure to read on the device. A picture of it is at the left.

But, isn't there anything else available?

What else is is there? Ultramobile PCs. Two of the sexiest are the OQO model 2 and Sony's VAIO Ultramobile. Both are basically very small PCs. Sony's also includes two cameras (yes, two). Both the OQO and Sony UMPCs have optional high capacity batteries which will bring the battery life up to 8 hours for the OQO and 6 hours (or more) for the Sony. They run a regular operating system with regular applications. You can use a full-sized bluetooth keyboard and mouse with either one, to basically give you a computer--and there are super-cool foldup bluetooth keyboards you can take along with you, if you want. However, both also include a very tiny, thumb keyboard if you don't want to carry the extra piece.

Both have large hard drives and a decent amount of memory (RAM). They can run MS Vista if you're inclined toward Microsoft's latest OS release. But they are much more expensive than a regular e-book reader...however...if you could buy one of these and NOT buy an MP3 player, portable DVD player, laptop, and e-book reader, wouldn't you come out ahead, anyway?

Well, whatever. The downside is that they both cost over $1,200. But they will do everything your laptop can do--and if you are into IP telephony--you can use it for that, as well. So you could very well get away with one device, or at least your cell phone and this device to: play mp3, watch videos, read e-books, do your work/homework, do emails, surf the web, or anything else you want to do.

Plus, they are really, really cool.

(Quit laughing.)

In case you doubt me, here are some pictures...

First, Sony's Vaio UMPC. It's got two cameras and 4.5" display. It weighs 1.2 lbs, and is 5.91" x 3.74" x 1.50". It has 512Mb RAM (there may be a 1GB version soon) and a 30GB hard drive, which means lots of room for books. Builtin wireless networking and of course bluetooth for big keyboards and mice.

If you don't like the Sony, there is the OQO Model 2. The model 2 weighs 1 lb and includes a 5" display, a 60GB hard drive and 1GB RAM (memory). Okay, it doesn't have cameras (much less TWO cameras like the Sony Vaio) but it has a much larger hard drive and more RAM, which means better performance. The Vaio is reported to be a little less snappy, but I haven't played with one so I can't confirm that.

Of course, you get all the standard jazz of wireless connectivity, a ethernet connection, bluetooth for external keyboards/mouse, and you can run all your standard software.

With both UMPC, you can download and read e-books from any source you choose (they don't lock you down to one e-book store). You basically have a computer in your pocket.

While these devices might not be the ultimate--they are certainly worth looking at, because they mean you *might* be able to reduce the number of things you have to carry around with you. And you know what? I might just give up my MP3 player in exchange for one of these beasties because I would have the power to do it all--almost.

Ah, power.

Is this the future, or at least a step in the right direction? Maybe.

Why e-books and Sony's new e-book reader missed the point...

Since I'm about to be published first as an e-book and then as a trade-sized paperback, I've been doing a lot of research into e-books, marketing and promotion. I've also been looking at e-book readers.

I've come to the conclusion that everyone has missed the boat. That's why the e-book market--with the exception of erotica--just hasn't performed up to everyone's expectations, and why it is so difficult for an author to make a living writing for that market. Which is really too bad, because if you could make a decent living at it (instead of around $300-$600 a year if you publish 2 e-books in a year...which is another topic).

There are a lot of reasons so I'll just go over the obvious ones.

First, a little background. Although it seems like everyone is getting into the e-book market these days, it is not taking off the way anticipated and the additional e-publishers are just fragmenting an already very small and very fragmented market.

The e-book thing started valiantly enough with erotica and boomed, but when you think about it, it was because it was aimed at a tightly focused audience and offered several advantages specific to that audience:

1. You could get the material anonymously and read it without people knowing you were reading erotica. That's probably the biggest factor.
2. The Internet had already exploded with sites catering to the clientele who would also be interested in erotica, so they were already using the Internet.
3. The audience was into instant gratification when they were in the mood.

So, erotica and the Internet seemed made for each other and it continues to perform well. (Uh, sorry...no pun intended.)

However, book publishers and the computer industry kept looking for the next "killer app" which could net them a lot of money. They looked at the erotica market and thought...hey, maybe the kids growing up today carrying around computers will want to read e-books--maybe if we get in on the ground floor, we'll make a lot of money.

This never materialized the way folks thought it would, and in fact, the computer industry no longer talks big about the anticipated explosion in the e-book market. The devices kids are carrying around do not lend themselves to reading e-books, even if the kids wanted to read them. There are no convienant, cool, devices kids or adults can carry around (like the iPod) that make reading fun.

I don't think things are totally bad, but I do think there have been major mistakes made and until they are corrected, things are not going to improve very much. Let's face it, everyone is trying to get into the e-book market these days, and for most authors, you're going to be a total success if you manage to earn $300 on an e-book. That's a far cry from being published by a traditional publisher. Even the smallest publishers who offer advances generally start with an advance at least around $1,000--and that's a very tiny advance. You'll probably earn $3,000 all told, which is 10 times as much as you'd earn with one e-book, and that's if you publish with a teeny-tiny traditional publisher and do no promotional work, and no extra stuff at all. In other words, you're better off with a teeny-tiny traditional publisher than an e-publisher--unless you're writing erotica.

Let's look at this more closely. I'm going to take myself as "typical of a reader" because on the whole, I think I am.

Mistakes the Industry Has Made

1. The reader wants the same experience reading an e-book as they do reading a regular book. This is Sony's biggest mistake with their new e-book reader. The fact is that if a reader wants the same experience as reading a paperback, they'll get a paperback. Well, duh. Why buy a very, very expensive black&white device (that costs as much as 60 paperbacks) that only supports one "store" which has a very poor selection of books? You're totally locked in (what else would you expect from Sony, anyway--since they are famous for trying to shackle their customers.) I'd rather buy 60 paperbacks--reading all of them will take me about 3 years, which is probably longer than the Sony e-book reader will last--and I can get my books from any sources.
2. Until an e-book reader has a batter life of at least 8 hours, forget it. You don't need batteries to read a regular book. I read a lot on planes--in fact--that and the beach are two places where probably more books are read than any other place. And both locations are e-book unfriendly. Most flights I take are at least 1 hour, but more like 2 hours. You add in the time waiting at the airport, and you're already talking 3 or 4 hours. Trying to find an electrical outlet in an airport is not easy. So my laptop and most e-book readers are going to run out of juice and leave me...yep, leave me to waltz into the airport bookstore and...buy a paperback. And at the beach? I've yet to find a beach with electrical outlets. A day or afternoon at the beach is more than just a couple of hours. So again...if I carry an e-book reader, I'm going to be left with nothing to read after the batteries die. So why bother?
3. You can read a paperback while your plane is getting ready to take off. You can't turn on either a laptop or an e-book reader until they let you use electronic devices. This is dumb, but there's nothing I can do about it. (There has never been any evidence to suggest that our consumer electronics wreck havoc with the airplane's electronics--so not being able to use our stuff is just silly...but that's a topic for another blog.)
4. I already spend too much time at the computer. I work on a computer all day, then I'm on the computer at night writing fiction. I'm generally on the computer about 12 hours a day. When I take time off, I actually don't want to be sitting at the computer. A book gets me away from that, although I only read about 15 minutes each night in bed before I go to sleep, since when I'm not on the computer, I have chores and exercising to do.

Those are just a few of the drawbacks. But, the thing is, there are some bright spots. Everyone is getting into book trailers these days. Someone a lot smarter than me must have noticed this. There are some things that e-books and e-book readers could do that traditional books could not deliver. I'm not sure how this would play out, but I definitely think that we need to think about the e-book strengths if we want that industry to really take off.

What could be done to seduce people into buying e-books?

1. Offer content and experiences you can't get in a traditional paperback. For me, it occurred to me when I was working on a trailer for my upcoming book, Smuggled Rose, that my heroine--Margaret Lane--plays Beethoven in several scenes. Why couldn't the music she plays be part of the e-book? Make it multimedia. Include pictures (if appropriate) and music. Not quite a movie, but a little more than a traditional book. A few extras. The nice thing is that since I write mostly historical fiction, it opens up the whole idea of giving the reader more information about the era, including popular music, (introduce kids to classical music painlessly!) art, interesting historical snippets, architecture...even with modern fiction, the possibilities are enormous. Even just including links that the reader could click on that would take them to interesting and related sites (assuming wireless connectivity is available). That might even make reading an e-book on a computer a more interesting experience, too.
   
   I'm actually not sure how that would work out, because I still want the book to be a book and you don't want to turn it into a video, but creative folks a lot smarter than I am should be thinking about this. I see it more as "options" readers could indulge in--e.g. a link on the page where Margaret is playing Beethoven--that would let the reader click and hear the music, if they wished. If not, they could simply continue reading.
   
2. Create an e-book reader that is usable. That means it must have at least the following features:

• Color. Why even create a device without color these days? At a minimum, you want to be able to see the pretty cover of the book...
• Good Battery Life. 8 hours minimum. Make it 10.
• Flexible. I should be able to download content from anywhere, any bookstore on the Internet and my computer, as well. I should be able to read everything: html, pdf, lit, and all those goofy e-book reader formats.
• Lots of Room. It must hold 100 books, minimum. I mean, why not? Storage is cheap.
• Multimedia support. That's right. I want to be able to play mp3 and some videos, as well as read. I will NOT carry multiple devices, including iPods, etc so I can listen to an MP3 and then read. In fact, I want to be able to listen to my MP3s while I read.
• Wireless and USB support. Yeah. How else am I going to download content?
• Browser. Again, I want to be able to browse the Internet and download content. Duh.

Which brings me to UMPCs. Ultramobile PCs. Those tiny little full function PCs which are about the size of...Sony's e-book reader, except a lot more functional. You can read whatever you want on them because they run a regular operating system. You can even get bluetooth keyboards and a mouse if you want to do e-mail or write your great American novel on it, when you're done reading. I'm particularly fond of the OQO model 2 at the moment. http://www.oqo.com/products/index.html

The only big problem is battery life is still not that great, but they are a computer. In fact, as soon as the OQO 02 comes out with the Vista operating system on it, I'm buying one. I travel a lot and I'm soon to have a published e-book. I want one device I can use to read my book, get my email, update my website, and write while I'm traveling. I can't do personal stuff on my laptop given to me by my office, so I don't want to carry two full-sized computers around with me (plus my work Blackberry, and my personal cell phone). But I could live with my Blackberry, my personal cell phone, my work laptop, and the OQO 02.

In the meantime, e-books will continue to be the red-haired stepchild of the publishing industry...

Choices, Choices, Choices

While I'm trying to learn about promotion so that I could do a decent job attracting readers to Smuggled Rose, I'm also attempting not to be irritated that authors who sell to larger publishers have a bigger team to rely on to help them with promotion, etc. Here I am, wracking my brain to think of ways to get ten or twenty more readers, knowing that my book will be a huge success if I can attract even 1,000 readers, while a traditionally published book starts with a print run around 20,000 or more. Which is why, of course, the traditional publishers are so picky about trying different sorts of books. They can't really afford to only sell 1,000 copies.

But it's a two-edged sword. While the big guys are looking at 10-20-30 thousand or even 100,000 units sold, they are also unable to offer smaller audiences variety because the audiences are too small to be profitable. Which is where the small presses come into play. They only need to sell 1,000 units to have a "run-away hit" on their hands, not 100,000.

The situation abounds with ironies.

• Many small presses started out publishing erotica. There wasn't a "traditonal" market for erotica, except perhaps the "literary erotica" like Anais Nin. Once folks could get erotica via the anonymous and very convenient Internet, these stories exploded and suddenly, small Internet presses abounded, all trying to get into the "hot, Hot, HOT" game.
• The big presses noticed and started pushing authors to make their books hotter and hotter. New erotica lines started. Now, you can't sell a book to a traditonal publisher that isn't hot. Lines, such as traditional Regency, that focused on other romantic elements than the bedroom action, were eliminated. If you aren't hot--you aren't hip--and you sure aren't going to be published.
• Back to the small, Internet presses. Bouyed up by their success with erotica, small presses realized that there are "niche" audiences for other types of stories, too. They branched out into mainstream. After all, they only needed to sell 1,000 units. They opened new lines and included traditional Regencies and other mainstream books that the traditional publishers were eliminating, figuring there were still audiences out there--after all, there are a LOT of readers who skip over the sex scenes or simply don't care about them. There actually can be an enthralling story written which isn't all about physical dexterity and condoms.

Now, the small presses are eating away small clusters of audiences who can't get what they want any more from the big presses, and the big guys, in an effort to keep their audiences from straying, are focusing more and more upon the sensual elements--figuring, I suppose, that that is all anyone wants to read, anyway. (I keep wondering if they are right and I'm living in some sort of Father Knows Best fantasy, or if there are still readers out there for whom the storyline is more important than how many sex scenes can be inserted between page 1 and The End.)

Bottom line: I'm not sure the big guys are right, despite "the sales numbers". What I think is happening is people are realizing they have choices. If someone wants to read vampire stories which are not thinly disguised erotica, they can probably find them--somewhere. Readers may still go to their local bookstore first, because there really is something seductive about walking through those aisles, picking up tangible books, reading covers, first pages, and just...looking, but if they don't find what they want, they can always go home and search through the Internet. And small press is waking up to the idea that they really can offer choices to their readers and develop audiences simply by publishing things which bigger houses determined could not find a wide enough readership to be profitable.

So, while I'm still a bit peeved that not only do I have to write the darn novels, but I also have to work much harder to promote them than my friends with big publishers, I also realize that what I'm getting and receiving in return is much, much more interesting. It is a choice and freedom. I'm free to write the kinds of stories I like to read and write, with the sensuality level which is appropriate for my specific characters, rather than bludgeoning my story and characters into something they are not.

I firmly believe we are on the cusp of larger changes here. If the big publishers are to keep up with the action, I don't think increasing the number and weirdness of the sex scenes in a book is going to do it. I think the real answer is: CHOICES. With the technology exploding, the big guys, including bookstores, need to think about the following:

• Offer more variety--offer books that may not fit mainstream/large audience lines by offering them first as e-books with the option to have them printed on demand in the actual bookstore if the reader wishes! There is technology that would allow bookstores to have a print-on-demand (POD) system in their back room. Instead of boxes of books they may have to strip and send back to the publisher, they can simply shelve "sample books" and when a reader wants to buy something, they take the book to the counter and while it is being rung up, the actual purchased copy is printed out for the reader at that point in time, and the sample is reshelved. Or, the reader can buy the one copy on the shelf and the transaction at the cash register can automatically send a job to the POD system to have a fresh copy printed out so it can be placed on the shelf to replace the one sold.
  
  Either way, the point is that this would mean publishers could offer more variety at less cost, because huge print runs in advance would no longer be required. No more stripped books being sent back to publishers. No books sent back, period.
  
• Because what I see now happening on the Internet is the emergence of individual tastes. Music, video, everything is diverging, taking away audiences from traditional forms by allowing folks to basically find and consume the artistic efforts they prefer. Companies willing to move fast enough to accommodate this divergence of taste will profit. Companies which insist that one-size-fits-all will find that this was, in fact, never true, despite all the advertising in the world.

I, personally, am dying to see how this progresses because over the last few years, I've been increasingly depressed as the historical market dwindled down to just hot, sensual historicals that I simply did not like. As a reader, I felt snubbed and left to forage on my own in used bookstores for the types of Regencies, mysteries, and 50's style Science Fiction I prefer. Now, I have hope both as a writer and a reader.

So, being a little author with a little press maybe ain't so bad even if it is more work, because it's my choice and it gives my readers a choice, too.

I've got a cover!

I've got a cover! I've got an absolutely, positively, gloriously gorgeous cover! I can't believe what a fabulous job they have done on my cover at Cerridwen Press. In fact, of all the covers they have done, I think my cover is by far the very best.

To go even further, although Cerridwen is a small press, I think this cover outshines a lot of the ones I see from the bigger publishing houses, too! I'm just so thrilled I can't stand it. (By now, you probably can't stand it, either!) So, here it is! I'm sorry the resolution isn't better--my fault. Anyway, I'm just tickled...well...pink!

I love the cover guy at Cerridwen Press. :-)

My editor also just sent me the ISBN number for the book, so it's almost like this is actually real and not just some figment of my overheated imagination. Hard to believe after all this time that I will finally see a real, honest-to-goodness book on my shelf. Okay, that will happen a few months after the e-book is released in May, but heck, it's almost here. It's coming. Soon.

I'm afraid I'm not much good tonight because I'm so thrilled. I'm just sitting here with a big sh!t-eating grin on my face, staring at the cover I printed out on PREMIUM photo paper, thinking about bookmarks, posters, T-shirts, and other promotional goodies. Mostly for me, because heck, this is a small press and all, and I'm not sure how big an audience I'll ever get, but I'm enjoying myself. Writing is a creative outlet for me after years of working with computers and massively logical thinking, so even if I never saw that book on the shelf (but I will in just a few months!!! *Grin*) I'd still write. I've been writing off and on for 25 years without seeing a book on the shelf, so it's pretty well ingrained now.

Now that I look back, I realize I never got out of that, "I've got to go do my homework, now" phase. After dinner, I always feel this need to sit down at the computer and start my "homework" i.e. write. If I don't, I have this feeling that there is something I should be doing and I get really antsy.

Anyway, I'm too scatter-brained to write anything coherant tonight!

Happy Days and Exciting Nights!

Who are You?

Let's have some fun. If some mad scientist created you by gene splicing anyone, alive or dead, into a baby that grew up to be you, who would have contributed the genetic material?

This is actually a two-parter.
The first part is who you are, or like to think you are today.
The second part is who you would like to be and what are the qualities they have that you want?

I'll go first.

Part 1
I like to think I can write. I want to be a writer. My first book is coming out in May, so who do I think I am now?

If someone dug up H.H. Munroe (who wrote under the psuedonym of Saki) and took a cell, and then dug up P.G. Wodehouse, and took another cell, and then shoved in a few strands of DNA from, say, Elizabeth Eyre, and the result wasn't a man, that's who I think I might be. I love the cynical, insouciance of H.H. Munroe, especially combined with his mythical, panthesistic elements. When I write, I have to fight my characters from saying the biting things they really want to say. I've had to tone down their cynical, mordant wit because people think my characters are mean. They are mean. That's why I like them.

But I also like the sheer brainless silliness of P.G. Wodehouse's characters, and I've got a few of them to contrast the cynics in my stories. There's nothing like the brain-dead to make your story really come alive.

And I love, love, love Elizabeth Eyre for her character Sigismondo and her brilliant descriptions. I'd like to think I write okay descriptions--when I write them. I don't do a lot of descriptions, though. I'm more of a dialog writer with action tags thrown in so you can see when characters reach over and smack someone on the head.

Of course, this is how I view my own work. Needless to say, I doubt readers would agree, except for the part where they don't like my characters because they are mean.

Part 2
Who would I be if I could add the genes of my choice to my own rapidly disintegrating DNA?

• I'd want the beauty of Grace Kelly. That's a no-brainer. I've never seen a more classically beautiful woman, before or since, especially in her early years (Dial 'M' for Murder).
• I'd like the writing success (and talent) of Jennifer Crusie--but I don't know if that's actually a gene you can glom on to.
• I'd like brains. I'm just not sure whose. Someone really, really smart, though, with a good memory. I'd like--just once--to have a good memory. Maybe even a photographic memory.

That's all. I don't think it's asking too much, do you? I mean, if they can clone a sheep like Dolly, then the above should be absolutely no problem.

So...

Who are you?

Happy 2007!

This is a little late, but like everyone else, I have New Year resolutions. Of course, I've already broken the first one, which was to post to my blog every Tuesday. Here it is Wednesday and I'm just now posting. Sigh. Where does the time go?

This blog may be going through a bit of a metamorphosis over the next few months. Now that I'm being published, I'm thinking my blog readership may change over time. Right now, it's weighted more toward things that interest writers, since most of the folks who read my blog are writers. But now that I may be getting some actual readers, it may begin to tilt in that direction. We shall see if I find a change in what folks are interested in. A lot of people are interested in writing even if they never become a professional writer, so I plan to continue including various articles and "A-Ha!" moments, anyway.

So, what are my resolutions for this year?
You already know the one that lays broken, face-down in the dust: to post a blog every Tuesday. What remains?

1. To continue writing like a mad-woman. I spoke to my agent to set our goals for the new year and I was pleased when she said, basically, to just keep doing what I'm going. Continue to write my Regency mysteries. As we build that up, the big guys in NY are sure to take notice... (This is actually very easy for me since I already have a fabulous inventory of Regency stories I just need to do final edits on, so--piece of cake.)
2. Learn to be a better writer. Take classes. Continue to read really first class authors and see how they do it. I'm particularly enamored of the Hard Case Crime books at the moment--so I'll probably get a few more of those and read them--for the purposes of research, of course!
3. Learn how to promote. I'm taking an online class right now on promoting your books, and I need to really get into this, big time. I want my books to sell! Because they do not contain explicit love scenes, I'm trying to figure out how to woo the librarians and get them to carry my books because they are more "family friendly" than other historicals at the moment. For some reason, historicals have become very risque as a genre, but the ones for the line I write for are still what is considered "sweet". There has to be a market for them...somewhere. We just need to tap into it and make sure they know about the Cotillion line. Unfortunately, this is one disadvantage to being published by a small press--you pretty much have to stir your stumps and do your own promotion. The big guys do some promotion for their folks (they also sell upwards of 40,000 copies versus the average 100-300 copies for small press, so the big guys can afford to promote) and they are carried in all the bookstores--so readers browsing the shelves can find them. Not so easy for us smaller guys who won't be sitting on the shelf in Wal-Mart to attract the impulse buyer.
4. Exercise. I mean it. I'm going to start exercising. Really.
5. Get the garden under control. It went wild last year. I'm going to try to regain control of at least 3 acres of it. We'll see who wins, me or Mother Nature. At least I've got Round-Up on my side. :-)
6. Learn everything there is to know about Microsoft Vista. Okay, that's for my day job, but I've got to do it so I'm making it a resolution.
7. Do housework. Yeah. Right.
8. Don't forget to keep in contact with your friends and enjoy yourself once in a while. This sounds like a no-brainer, but it's not as easy as you might think when you live miles away from anyone...but there *is* the Internet and failing that, the post office, so...no excuses.
9. Be Happy.

I'm going to stop at 9. I refuse to go to 10.

I hope everyone out there had a wonderful New Year and are starting off 2007 with good cheer and a ton of extravagent resolutions they have every intention of breaking.

Cheers!

Holiday Greetings!

Happy Holidays!
It is always so exciting to start a new year--fresh opportunities and a new start.
As you can imagine, I'm still pretty excited about having my first Regency novel published, although to be honest, my feelings range from thrilled to scared to death as the "rubber hits the road" and the dirty work--editing--begins in earnest. And there is always the fear that people will hate it and you won't find an audience. Or that you'll find an audience of...like maybe two people. Frightening.

The really horrifying part is that it only gets harder. You think now that you've sold your first book, things will get easier, but the reality is that the market gets tighter each year as the Internet (well--you're reading this instead of a book, right?), games, television, movies and books all compete for the same limited attention span. Not to mention other worthwhile activities like just going for a walk.

As part of that trend, books are getting shorter and sharper, which I view as a good thing since to be honest, I'm not much on long books. After a while, I just want the author to wrap things up and move on. Lately, I've been reading a lot of short stories, particularly mysteries like those published in the lovely magazine The Strand. If you've never seen an issue and you like mysteries, I highly recommend in, along with The Mystery Scene.

I keep wondering if the short story is going to make a comeback. There are already e-zines available through the Internet and various publishing companies are experimenting with online offerings, as well as an upswing in novelettes for romance and erotica readers. I'm all for various "length factors" because I figure any medium that gets folks reading is great.

Short stories are an interesting format and I keep toying with the idea of writing a few, myself, but to be honest, they scare the dickens out of me. I believe short story writers are exceptional writers because they have to do all their character development as well as story development in just a few pages. No long descriptive passages, no lengthy backstory explaining how the character got the way they are, just quick and hopefully not too dirty :-) scene setting, character description, and story. Short story writers are the slim, muscular atheletes of the writing world.

I personally like a very lean, tight writing style so I'm very drawn to short stories--I just don't know if I can develop both a character and a good story in just a few pages. But I think in today's market, if you can hone that skill, you're going to sell. I don't know if you could ever actually get rich on short stories, but I believe there is an audience out there for them.

What I'm thinking is some sort of RSS feed subscription (I mean, authors do want to get paid for their work) where you could set up a web page with an RSS feed and then post your stories and novelettes. Anyone who subscribes (and pays the subscription fee--which wouldn't have to be really expensive) would then get automatic notification and download of the new stories via the RSS feed. There are tons of free RSS feed clients and the new version of Outlook from Microsoft (Outlook 2007) will include an RSS feed so you can get your news and junk dumped directly into your e-mail bin. Readers can then read their content on any device, e.g. smartphone, pda, laptop, desktop computer, whatever. You could even do a serialized novel/story that way. How cool would that be? You could even include pictures, like Manga stuff, if you're into that.

Companies such as Harlequin are already experimenting with various serials and e-pubs but at the moment, I'm not sure how they're handling the business (money making) end of it. So much of the stuff on the Internet is free--which is what makes it such a terrific resource--but on the other hand, it would be difficult to make a living as a writer if you never actually got paid for your work. At what point do we start charging and what do we charge users for? If you were a writer and never got paid, would you continue to write? You might, but I'm not sure what kind of quality product readers would be getting. There is a lot of truth in: You get what you pay for.

Still, a lot of writers love writing so much, they may write for free. Personally, I find that a little too depressing to think about, but I guess a lot of socialists would really love that idea. I'm a little too much of a capitalist to appreciate the benefits of working long hours to produce something for someone else and never get anything in return except possibly a plaque or a pat on the head.

Anyway, I sure I don't know the answers. I only know that I regard writing as a second job for now and one which I hope to change over to completely as a primary occupation to help me pay the bills sometime during the next seven years. That means I would actually need to earn money for my novels. Now that I have my first publishing contract, I expect to start earning something, but I can't help thinking there are vast opportunities out there for new stories presented via the Internet, with a fair price that readers find totally acceptable.

We live in an interesting time and I hope 2007 continues the unprecedented developments on the Internet. There is no doubt that we are headed in some unexpected directions.

So Happy New Year to everyone and may we all get our hearts' desire!

Writing the "All-Nighter" Book

*News Flash* And now a word from our sponser...My publication date has been changed! Smuggled Rose is now due to be released as an e-book on May 3, 2007! I hope to have a cover soon so you can see what it looks like. And we are still hoping to have a paperback version 6 months later, so I'm totally thrilled! Anyway, back to the REAL subject...

The Anatomy of an All-Nighter Book
Hopefully, David Morrell will not sue me for dissecting his book, CREEPERS, which is a perfect and clear example of a book which is so gripping that you literally stay up all night reading it to find out what happens next. A lot of writers worry about sagging middles or engaging the reader, and sometimes it helps to see how a really expert writer does this. I chose CREEPERS simply because it was so well done and it was so clear how it was done.

Morrell doesn’t pepper you with a lot of backstory and unnecessary information, particularly at the beginning. He establishes who his characters are and what their goals are: to explore an old, abandoned hotel before it is torn down. He lays down hints that the main character has more to his motives, but there is only a hint. You don’t actually find out all his hidden secrets and motives until almost the end.

In previous articles, I’ve talked about making sure your reader understands your hero or heroine, so they can bond with them. This means you have to make sure your reader understands at that hero/heroine’s goals and motivations, but only enough to accept the action and get into the story. It’s a fine line.

Starter Conflict
The hero of CREEPERS is Frank Balenger and we know he’s joined the group of explorers for his own reasons, with the overt explanation that he’s a reporter doing a story on creepers (urban explorers). His explanation to the rest of the group for his presence is actually enough for the reader, too. Morrell throws out hints like:

“I’m beginning to like this guy,” Vinnie said.
Balenger’s muscles relaxed. Knowing there’d be other tests, he watched the creepers fill their knapsacks.

Balenger wants the creepers to accept him as a reporter so he can go along with them. We know there may be more to it, but it’s good enough for us. This is the perfect example of giving the reader enough motivation, enough details to get them involved and intrigued, and to start sympathizing with Balenger, without dumping a whole lotta unnecessary backstory on us. We’re intrigued because we know there’s more to come…

So the first hurdle for the hero is to get the creepers to trust him enough to come along. This is the first twist of tension the reader feels, and the starter conflict. Of course, the creepers let him come along, which brings us to the next twist of tension.

Hints of Horrors to Come
As they break into the hotel, they run into rats and a cat with abnormal physical characteristics like extra legs or ears. There’s no long explanation, which is a mistake a lot of beginning writers make. The characters do a small amount of speculation as they move on into the hotel, but not a lot, because the reader will do all the speculation for them. The reader will pick up these details and tighten the tension another notch all on their own, because readers always play that guessing game of trying to figure out what’s going to happen next and where the author is going with these details. So already, with just a very few details, the reader is thinking:

Is there some sort of biological or radiation causing the mutations?
Are they going to run into a monster?
Or will the original owner turn out not to be dead, but alive due to some biological or radiation thing?
Or…

Now the reader is involved. They’re guessing and wondering if they can figure out where the author is going. And they’re worried about the creepers and Balenger. Will they survive? What horrors will they run into?

Brushes with Death
Once the creepers get into the hotel, the tension increases again as they run into difficulties like rotted floors. One character almost falls through. And they see a cat with five legs, again. Something is not right…

All of this serves to create the atmosphere and start building dread. By this time, the reader is going to have a hard time putting the book down, because they want to know what is going to happen next. Are there going to be monsters? Are accidents going to become fatal?

First Major Twist
But you can’t let it rest there. You have to introduce something unexpected now, to increase the tension or you will have…a sagging middle. You see a sagging middle has nothing to do with “no action” or other misconceptions like that. You can have plenty of action, but unless that action goes into a different direction, then it’s just boring.

For example, if Morrell just had more accidents like people falling through holes in the floor or ceilings caving in on them, it would just get boring. It’s happened already. It’s now expected. So more of the same isn’t going to do anything to increase the tension.

Thanks to the detail of the weird cat, readers are also sort of expecting monsters.

So Morrell gives readers what they don’t expect and throws in a completely new kind of threat. Something all his hints about the strange first owner, the abnormal animals, and rotting hotel just didn’t prepare you for.

I am not going to spoil this book by revealing what it is, but trust me, it’s a good twist.

Second Major Twist
Now that he’s introduced new threats into the environment, Morrell doesn’t leave it there. He’s got the screws tightened to the point where you can’t put the book down because everything is dangerous for the characters. How are they—any of them—going to survive?

But wait! That’s only the first 2/3 of the book! Now, he introduces another twist that relates to one of the initials guesses readers might have been making about where the book was going, but is so unexpected and not exactly what they were thinking, that again, you can’t put the book down. This second twist increases the danger, not just for the “good guys” but for the “bad guys” as well!

Final Twist
In the final third, Morrell finally reveals all of Balenger’s backstory and his underlying motives about why he is there—but only because it is relevant to the action. The second twist introduced more elements and one of those elements has a direct relationship with Balenger’s past, his motives, etc. If it had not been related in this way, with direct and personal implications for Balenger, we probably could have gone without ever really knowing about his past. The book would have been just as enjoyable and just as tense (believe me) but there is an extra layer of personal involvement and meaning that would have been missing had he not had the twist have real implications and meaning for Balenger.

This is all sort of airy at the end, mostly because I didn’t want to ruin the story for those who have not read it. Get it and read it. It is a superb example of how to create mounting tension and make that tension and plot twists directly impact the main character in a meaningful way. That’s the secret to creating killer fiction.

Sigh. Now if I could just do that.

Promotion

Since my first book won't be out for a few months (until July 2007) it should be obvious that I don't have long years of experience with promoting, but I have been querying other writers. It's a mixed bag out there, and no one has the keys to the kingdom.

However, the first thing you need to consider, and I mean really consider, is your audience. If you're trying to reach younger folks, realize that attention spans are very brief. Even if they see your name and book title over and over again, if they can't buy it when they see the ad, it's pointless to advertise. This is particularly true of e-books.

That's where the main "decision point" is going to be. Are you coming out first as an e-book or as a paperback, or even as a hardcover? Because those things are going to affect who--and when you need to first advertise.

For all authors, make sure you coordinate any reviews, advertisements and other promotions with your publisher's marketing department and editor. You don't want to give them the idea that you are going around them. This is a team effort. You are part of a team. You don't want to send a copy of your book someplace for review, only to discover your marketing department has already done that. It's bound to make someone angry. You don't need that.

Remember: this is a team effort. Coordinate with your team.

E-Book
If you're coming out first in e-book, realize that you are catering to the "I want it now crowd. That's the whole point of an e-book. So you don't want to start advertising months, or even one month, before your book comes out. If you do, by the time the book is downloadable, you'll have lost any small advantages your ad might have garnered for you. In fact, it may be detrimental because potential readers, having tried to buy your book when they saw the ad, won't be able to, and their impression will be that there is something wrong with your book or publisher's site--like--are they going out of business? It is unlikely the reader will try again.

Also, realize that your audience is on the computer. They are not in a library or a bookstore. You don't need to advertise to the more expensive publications that cater to librarians or bookstores, like Romance Sells. There is a small exception to this: if you think you can appeal to the librarians and bookstore managers as readers, who might then chat up your book to their customers, you can consider this, but on the whole, it's a pretty expensive venture for very little gain. Save these for when your book comes out in print.

Make Advanced Reader Copies (ARC) of your book and in coordination with your marketing deparment, send them to folks who do reviews. Getting someone to review your book is one of the BEST (and free) ways to get it known and purchased. Some sites prefer to download the e-book so you, again, will need to coordinate with your marketing department on how to provide a free download to reviewers. Many of them take care of this for you. In fact, most do.

As far as places to advertise, probably your best bet for e-books is Romantic Times. They often do a review (free) and will accept ads. Another place for exposure is RWA's monthly magazine. Some other ideas that are a little unusual, but sometimes work out are:

Mention the book and where to purchase it in your High School and/or College alumni newsletter or magazine. Classmates will often purchase out of curiosity or so that they can brag that they went to school with an author.

Some folks find that MySpace or other sites on the Internet like that are helpful, but they are also collossal time-wasters, so you should consider that factor as well.

Paperbacks/Trade Editions
These are the hard core consumer items, so this is where you can really begin to put in a lot more effort, including book signings, etc. I've been to some book signings and you should be aware that the advantage is NOT in signing the books, the advantage is in getting it mentioned in the newspaper. You may only sign 20 books, which is not going to make or break you as an author, but if the event is mentioned in the newspaper, then you may get people to buy the book the next time they go to the store (or online).

You should schmooze librarians and booksellers--particularly the booksellers. If they don't acquire your book and put them in their store, your chances of getting sold are...slim...to none. They place their orders in advance, so they need to see information about you and your book well in advance of it's initial release. This is where publications like Romance Sells are invaluable. ARCs are important, and if you can get a few ARCs to buyers for a few chains in your area, so much the better.

Hardcover
The advice for hardcover is much the same as paperback, except with possibly more emphasis on librarians. There are a lot of libraries and a lot of libraries buy a lot of hardcovers. So make sure you and your marketing department get that covered as much as possible. Also, attend conventions where there are librarians and booksellers. Make friends with them. Give them ARCs. Do what you can to find out about who does the buying and how decisions are made. Encourage them to make positive decisions about your book.

Finally, I want to emphasize again that you need to work hand-in-hand with your marketing department. You aren't in this alone. They can help you. They want to help you, and they know what they are doing.

Writing and Publishing

It's been a while since I wrote a crafty blog and unfortunately, this isn't going to be one, either! I'm working on a contemporary mystery and need to get back to work on it, so this blog is sort of off the top of my head.

Now that I finally have a publication date for A Smuggled Rose, each day is a new day, and I'm not even in the big leagues yet. I'm being published by a small press publisher who does mainly e-books with some print books released a few months after the e-book. And yet...it is truly weird. All of a sudden, I'm invited into all these loops and groups for published writers. I've gotten congratulations from people I don't even know and have no idea how they found out I'm being published. I guess they're on one of the myriad loops which are now inviting me to participate. And you know, a few scant weeks ago, I got nothing.

Which goes to show you, people really like successful people. Even if you're only successful in a minor way.

Why do I mention that? Because just like "real people" in the "real world," if you want your readers to like your characters, your characters should be at least marginally successful. Or good at something, even if it's just shooting boogers across the room (and he scores another one!). One of the hardest creations is a character that the reader can bond with. I've talked about it on other blogs, but characters are sort of like diamonds--there are a lot of facets to creating one which is valuable and worthwhile. You need a lot of sides to the character, a lot of facets, to give them depth, and there needs to be at least one, successful, worthwhile thing about them. If the character doesn't start out successful, then the character's journey most likely should contain an element of growth and so the success is that the character grows in some way. Of course, in literary fiction, the character more often than not, ends up not growing and is spectacularly unsuccessful, which is why it is often so difficult for the reader to "get into" the characters.

We want success. We crave success. We want to be around successful people. Unless they are too successful, in which case, we delight in tearing them down and heaping blame upon them for everything, no matter what they do or don't do (e.g. Bill Gates). However, that is sort of drifting away from the point.

Right now, I'm toying with a heroine in my murder mystery who has uclers and way too much stress in her life. I'm trying not to make her whiney, but she really does have a lot to whine about, and I'm thinking about how far I can go with her before I've gone TOO FAR, because this heroine with the ulcers and the stress, is on the first vacation she's had in five years (trying to relax and let her ulcers go away) and I'd really like her to have the ultimate female insult--get her period. I mean, this has happened to ME so many times...I've saved up my annual leave and planned a big vacation (particularly a vacation at the beach) only to wind up with my period being early or late and sort of interferring with the whole thing. Not that you can't still have a good time and all, it's just not the best.

But I thought about it, and I can't really remember any heroine within my recent memory who has even had a period mentioned, which when you think about it, is fairly...odd. I mean, I've read books where the "action" takes place over a month, and the heroine is just f-i-n-e the entire time, including adventure stories where her airplane/car/whatever has crashed and she and the hero are struggling to the nearest town over a period of weeks, with...you guess it...no period. Which is good, since they often only have the clothes on their backs and nothing in the way of supplies. It does make me wonder, though. It seems to...unrealistic.

Okay, I know if you are under a lot of stress, this might happen, but isn't it a little weird that nobody in a book seems to have any kind of a monthly cycle, but they can sure pop those kids out in the epilogue. Amazing.

Guess those nasty little real life details just need to be glossed over, although it seems a little disengenuous considering how much detail is employed regarding condoms during love scenes in so many recent books. They want the reader to definitely know that all the characters are having safe sex, even if the woman apparently hasn't started to have her monthly cycle yet (even though she's in her mid-to-late twenties/early thirties).

Maybe it's these sorts of issues that make me completely uninterested in writing detailed love scenes or reading them. They seem so ridiculous--and weird combination of complete fantasy (everyone has at least one, if not multiple 'O's), yucky reality (is there anything more yucky than a used condom?), and complete disregard for biology. Or maybe I'm just behind the times and don't realize that young folks now-a-days have complete control over their biology and don't have nasty things happen to them at awkward times.

Then again, books are, by their very nature, fantasies, and none of us want to read about bloated, crabby women. We know the feeling, we don't like the feeling, and we don't want to be reminded.

So I guess I won't do that to my poor heroine, although it really would be just the icing on her vacation cake. I'll think of some other way to torture her.

Lucky 7?

Houston, we have a go...

Cerridwen Press has given me an actual release date for my Regency: A Smuggled Rose. It will be coming out July 7, 2007 (7/7/07). Assuming no disasters, of course. This entire process has me mystified. They decided to sort of delay the release a little because they were organizing their traditional Regency releases by "story tone". Now I'm wondering what sort of tone I have. I suspect it's dark, although it didn't feel all that dark to me when I wrote it. It is certainly not as dark as some things I've read, although there are some sort of dark strands running through it.

I never think of myself as a dark writer, although most of my stories have some very, very dark undercurrents. So, I'm really curious to see how I end up being viewed by readers and reviewers. It will also be interesting to see if others think that major, underlying themes are individuality and the pursuit of freedom. I've been told that this is a theme in most of my work, but I usually think of it more along the lines of an individual's place in Society and how far does one need to go to be accepted or acceptable. Personally, I'm not willing to go all that far. I'm afraid my own streak of independence is often--and uncomfortably--echoed in my characters.

Which is odd for someone who always reads all the documentation which comes with everything, like electronic equipment, and generally tries to follow the rules (as far as I understand them). You would think a person like that would be a conformist, not a non-conformist. Certainly not an individualist who can't stand to be told what to do (unless it is written down in the user manual).

But I guess, underneath it all, I prefer individualists who mind their own business and don't expect me to live up or down to their expectations. I really hate expectations. I hate being told what to do. Just tell me the rules and I'll see what I can do to fit them in. Then leave me alone.

Which pretty much sums up how most of my characters feel about things. So, yeah, I guess individualism and independence are a major themes for me. I can't seem to get away from them.

And theme is important. It can add a lot of depth to your writing. The good thing is that most writers have themes, even if they don't realize it. Cool. The only problem is, most people totally don't get what a theme actually is. They confuse it with their character's goals or personalities. Not the same thing at all. Theme is what is *shown* by your story and develops as the characters' goals and personalities play out through the course of their adventure. It is doubtful your characters--even at their most enlightened moment--would be able to verbalize the theme. Unless they are Melanctha in a Gertrude Stein story, of course ("You have to know what you've got when you've got it"--but Melancthan knew what she had when she had it, and she lost it anyway--and knew she lost it, so...even she--clearly--didn't grasp the theme entirely.) But I digress...

Back to my publishing trauma. I'm now in the process of having to create a, gulp, blurb. I'm totally hopeless with titles and blurbs, so this is not easy. I actually hoped my editor would foist some sort of title and accompanying blurb on me. :-) That would have been great. But she didn't, so I had to come up with a blurb. So I'm looking at two blurbs.

I'd love to know what people think of them and which they prefer. It will probably only confuse me further, but I like to think hearing someone else's ideas will suddenly clarify Life, the Universe, and Everything for me.

Blurb 1

Occasional rose smuggler, Margaret Lane, wants nothing more than to go to London and enjoy a London Season. But after being disgraced by a member of the Ton when her brother failed to honor a gambling debt, the best she can hope for is to be forgotten by Society.

Michael Peyton, earl of Ramsgate, wishes Society and all his responsibilities would go to blazes. He has agreed to an arranged marriage with a woman who cringes whenever he enters the room, and the best he can hope for is to avoid it as long as possible. He never dreams his irresponsible brother would get wounded by the Excise and that a beautiful woman like Margaret would rescue him.

Unfortunately, Margaret's past soon catches up with her, and Michael is faced with a fearful dilemma. If he cannot protect her while still fulfilling his promise to another woman, he may lose both his honor and Margaret.

Blurb 2

Occasional rose smuggler, Margaret Lane, dreams of a London Season, knowing her hopes are unrealistic. A rejected suitor’s gossip has destroyed her reputation and trust, and smuggling roses from France to make ends meet further damns her. So, with lowered expectations, she hopes Society will simply forget her, until she rescues a man from the Excise. Soon she discovers no one has forgotten the rumors about Miss Lane, particularly not the man’s brother, Michael Peyton, the earl of Ramsgate.

Finding his brother in the hands of a well-known doxy is no relief to Michael, who has his own social burdens including a young fiancée who cringes at the sight of him. But when he discovers the rumors about Margaret are pure fabrication, he hits upon the perfect solution to repay her. He grants Margaret her heart’s desire, a London Season, hoping to cleanse her reputation by having his mother and fiancée present her at Court.

Unfortunately, when they arrive in London, the past catches up with Margaret, and Michael must protect her and deny his own heart’s true desire. If he does not honor his duty to another woman, he may lose Margaret’s trust, and love, forever.

That's it - which would you prefer? Would either one make you part with your hard-earned money?