Something About The Writing Journey

Kicking the Camel Out of the Tent

2012-01-03T22:53:00.000-08:00

Or, "Ten Steps Toward Taming the Technology Tiger."

Yes, I mixed my metaphors. You may take your choice of the two images. If your use of technology is starting to feel more like a bothersome nuisance than a useful tool, choose the camel analogy. If the beast is more like a dangerous wild animal that threatens to devour you, choose the tiger.

My new Mac computer is a camel that encroached into my personal space so gradually I didn’t notice until my bum started to get a little chilly in the cold Canadian winter air outside the tent door. So, during this reflective time of the New Year, I’m making plans to kick the camel out of the tent, or at least to push her over into a smaller corner.

I’m going to become more disciplined and deliberate in my use of this wonderful technology. My goal is to make sure the tail quits swinging the tiger in 2012. (Arrggg. Internal critic is cringing at that irrational expansion of the mixed metaphor, but I’m ignoring her.)

So here are my plans. They are NOT resolutions, or regulations. They are simply steps I plan to take toward the goal of harnessing this wondrous beast so he will find out who is boss, and will get down to the important business of carrying my stuff to the market.

In 2012, I will:

1. Honor my personal priorities: I’ve been practicing this discipline for a while now and it has saved my sanity. I will not turn on my computer in the morning until I’ve spent some quality time with my Lord and Master. Every morning, I need to yank on the anchor chain—to make sure I’m properly attached to my fixed point of reference—before I’m ready to begin sorting through all the flotsam and jetsam the culture has washed up on the internet shore during the night. If I oversleep and don’t have time to spend reading my Bible and talking to Jesus, then I don’t have time for the internet.

2. Write every day: This is a new one for me. I’ve resisted it for a while, because it sounds like a New Year’s resolution with a built in crash mechanism. I suspected it wouldn’t work because it clashes with my lofty ideal of not writing unless I have something worthwhile to say. I’m deathly afraid of spewing out more flotsam and jetsam. But I’ve decided it might work if I connect this step with the previous one. If I make my daily writing assignment a simple entry in my personal devotional journal, I will benefit in several ways: I will become more disciplined about writing; I will become more practiced as a writer; and if the journal entry ends up having some nugget of truth or beauty in it, I can incorporate it into a blog post later. If it’s jetsam and flotsam, it can just float around in my personal eddy pool without bothering anyone else.

3. Manage my computer work time well: I have decided I need to be deliberate about how I use my computer for marketing my book. I’ve collected a huge list of things I could do to increase the exposure of Zinovy’s Journey on the internet. I need to sort out the useful items on that random list and make a plan—a daily, weekly and monthly plan—for traveling down this uncharted road toward worldwide marketing and distribution of ZJ. This planning step will be the first thing on my list of things to do.

4. Blog more consistently: I know. I’ve made this commitment before and not followed through. So I will try again. I will work out a schedule that keeps my two blogs going at a steady pace. I’m not saying I will post often. I will aim for more regular submissions, rather than more frequent ones. I will start out with the intention of posting one blog a week, to one or the other of the two blogs. My goal for the year is to work up to one post for each of the blogs every week. Without posting flotsam or jetsam!

5. Be deliberate about the blogs I follow: I’m discovering so many good blogs out there—writing ones, devotional ones, entertaining ones. I could spend hours every day reading them all. But I’m going to have to discriminate. I will pick the best, most useful ones, and subscribe to them. I may have to choose a number--ten or twelve--and subtract one blog on my list for every new one I find that I want to add. Ouch. This one will be hard to live up to.

6. Develop my social network carefully: I’m making so many new “friends.” I want to “like” them all, but I can’t keep expanding my list of friends forever. I’m going to have to define some parameters. My “friends” should be people I’d like to sit down and have coffee with. And each social networking community needs to be treated a little differently. It took me a while to figure out that LinkedIn connections should only be people I actually know, and I’m still grappling with how to add networking “friends” to my personal community on Facebook. Twitter is a complete mystery to me, but I’m already deciding I only want to follow birdies I can respect and learn from.

7. Interact with, and make a positive contribution to my internet community: I want to give as well as take in this social network exchange. I will not only read my chosen blogs, I will comment, and contribute often to other sites that are worthwhile. I will always give credit for material that is not original, linking to sources of information so the creators can gain internet exposure. When I communicate on Facebook, I will link to friends who are trying to expand their networks, and contribute in ways that will be helpful to them. I will pass on useful information, rather than shallow personal comments.

8. Limit my social chatter: I spend way too much time during the day checking my social networks for no apparent reason. I will set a schedule for checking them, and resist gravitating to the computer, just to see what’s up, when I’m bored or trying to procrastinate.

9. Play Games for the right reasons: Those reasons are: 1) personal refreshment; 2) healthy entertainment; 3) social interaction. I have to confess I’ve got a weakness for Spider Solitaire, but I honestly feel I am not able to play that game any more. It’s too addicting for me. So I have decided to delete that game completely from my roster of potential computer entertainments. I will play other computer games—ones that satisfy without creating an inner vacuum that only gets bigger when I try to fill it. I will play games that involve other people, and I will play them for the connection with my friends as well as for entertainment. Any entertainment activity that does not allow me to walk away feeling refreshed and ready to get back to work will be off limits to me.

10. Exercise spiritual disciplines in regard to overall computer use: My plan, this year, is to fast one day a month from both food and technology. I took a personal retreat day last week, and was amazed at how it clarified my focus and recharged my spiritual and emotional batteries. I’ve already scheduled my next one, and they will be slotted into my calendar every month for the rest of the year. One day out of every thirty, I will abandon my tent to the camel and find a solitary place where there are no backlit screensavers, no “you have mail” dings, no way to comment or reply with my fingers alone. I will check heaven’s mailbox, and read, comment or reply with my heart instead.

So those are my plans. We’ll see how it goes. Until this time next year.

The images in this blog post are from the delightful children's book, Humphrey's First Christmas, Written and illustrated by Carol Heyer.

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

2011-12-31T13:36:00.000-08:00

I am so far behind in blog posting I don't know where to begin. One of my New Year's "plans" (not resolutions, which tend to produce more guilt with me than profit) is to post more regularly. And there's lots to post about.

The big thing is that Zinovy's Journey is published, printed and "out there," finally! Such a good feeling! So far, I've sold or given away over 200 copies and I'm getting some good reader reviews. I'm also collecting a list of typos and other errors that will need to be corrected before I order the next batch of books--relatively easy to do since the book is print-on-demand.

But the good "finally published" feeling lasted only about three weeks. Now it's back to plodding along, one day at a time, after a very short and somewhat uneasy transition from the writing mode to the marketing one. It's about a long obedience in the same direction.

I'm uneasy with the marketing mode because I know even less about marketing than I did about writing when I began this project 35 years ago, but I'm moving forward one step at a time. I'm expanding my social network: wrestling with the problem of how to merge my new writer/reader "friends" with my personal ones on Facebook; still unclear about the value of Twitter, but trying to figure out how to Tweet effectively; looking toward e-publishing later in the month.

Meanwhile, I've received a good review by Tracy Krauss, a great new author/blogger friend. And Janet Sketcheley, another author/blogger, and a faithful promoter of Canadian writers, has done a blog interview. I've also been a guest author at a friend's Bible study group, and am looking forward to doing more of that kind of face-to-face interacting with readers.

Since it's only been two months since the book was released, I'm off to a fairly good start in the marketing department. I never expected a great burst of excitement.

Because my book is self-published, its journey from "virtually unknown" to "world-famous ;-)" will be gradual. It will grow in notoriety from the baseline of my friends and relatives to the broader reader population at a snail's pace. That's okay with me. I have no editor or publisher pushing me to make sales happen. (One of the many advantages of self-publishing!)

Because the story deals with universal themes, I don't think the book will become outdated, so I'm not worried about how soon it reaches readers. But I do feel a responsibility to faithfully inch along on the marketing and distribution road. If the book was worth spending years writing, it's got to be worth some effort at promoting.

So that's a catch-up on my doings. For something a little more interesting, I'll leave you with one of Passive Guy's latest posts. Referencing Mary W. Walters, he says: Creative Writers Can Be Difficult to Detect During Job Interviews. If you're wondering if you're a writer, read this article. It gives a clear description of this odd kind of person.

If you haven't yet discovered The Passive Voice, check it out. Passive Guy, as he calls himself, is a veritable concordance of information about self-publishing, and he's got a great sense of humor so is fun to read. The website is chock full of helpful, interesting content, that will come to your e-mail inbox several times a week if you sign up to receive it. Highly recommended!

A year ago, my New Year's musings were focused on the publishing journey ahead. The coming year will carry me down the marketing road. I'm excited to see where the tandem bicycle ride will take me this coming year. I love being seated behind the greatest cyclist the world has ever known.

May your writing journey in 2012 be eventful, and satisfying beyond your wildest expectations.

Letting Go of the Baby

2011-11-30T13:57:00.000-08:00

Kathryn M. Weiland shared a quote that resonates with me at this stage of my writing journey.

‎When a book leaves your hands, it belongs to God. He may use it to save a few souls or to try a few others, but I think that for the writer to worry is to take over God’s business.
-Flannery O'Connor

Like every precious baby, Zinovy's Journey belonged to God from the beginning. But it’s hard not to hover over the cradle, watching to make sure the baby’s still breathing. About 175 ZJ books are now out there in the public somewhere. Many are with people I’ve been praying for off and on for years. It’s mind boggling, even when I sit down to pray for them. But I know I need to keep a forward-thinking attitude. I need to keep pressing on into where the Lord leads from here, without looking back or around to see what’s happening. It’s totally in His hands, His business.

So I need to quit fretting about distribution and marketing.

I haven’t been obsessive about it, but I have been trying a little too hard, conniving a little too much, to place the book into the market. All that effort has added up to a number of little contacts, often with people I don’t even know. I have no idea (nor control over) what will come of these small contacts. I don't know which tweet or post will take off or connect with a broader audience. But I do know that God can take the tiniest candle and light up the whole world. He can take a helpless, vulnerable, shivering little baby, born in a stable on a chilly night, and bring eternal salvation to a broken world.

So I'm making a decision. A commitment. Please hold me to it. I will leave the book that has left my hand, in God’s hands. I will keep doing the little things, under His wise direction, and just expect that He will use it to save, or to try, the souls He has intended all along to reach.

His network is huge. He has access to every social media source. He will bring this book to its target market audience, and He just might do it through some little contact that seems insignificant to me at the time.

Dirty Little Self-Publishing Secrets

2011-11-09T14:48:00.000-08:00

Last week I found a great interview on Michael Hyatt's site. It’s chock full of "dirty little secrets" on the hot topic of self-publishing. It sums up a lot of what I've been hearing.

The SiWC in October was abuzz with gossip--both nervous and excited--on this topic. Writers were excited. Editors, and even some agents, were nervous.

They were nervous because traditional publishing is beginning to look like an outmoded, bunglesome dinosaur of a system, and the editors and agents who are a part of that system are scrambling to find ways to keep from becoming obsolete, or at least being considered obsolete by writers.

Many of those writers, who used to sit on the doorsteps of traditional publishing houses waiting anxiously for an invitation to come in, have gotten up off their bruised rear ends and gone down the street to the local Starbucks. There they sip lattes as they put the final touches on their manuscripts, and then they navigate the internet, looking for other, more realistic options for getting their work into the market.

Industry people say it's the wild, wild west in the publishing world right now. Apparently, the writers are the outlaws. They rustle cattle, shoot from the hip, stake claims in uncharted territory. Then they go into town, get drunk on their winnings, and make a general nuisance of themselves in the bars.

Yes, that’s a slightly exaggerated, more colorful account of the reality. But the reality is that, for the first time in a long while, or maybe forever, it's a writer's market.

Technology has made the difference. It's now easy (that's also a slight distortion of reality) to publish books yourself. And more and more writers are choosing to go that route.

Thanks to new technology, self-publishing has grown from its infant stages, when it babbled and drooled all over the place and left messy piles of you-know-what all over the book industry, through its childhood and into pubescence.

Self-publishing is now a teenager, brash and a little undisciplined, but becoming better at communicating, and almost ready to say something worthwhile to the world.

No, actually, in the last year or so, it almost seems like self-published authors have graduated from high school. They now call themselves “indie” publishers, declaring their independence from the “parents” who used to be their only means of support. Even the self-publishing companies, who offer services such as editing, printing, and distribution, are being sidestepped by writers who have decided to become their own builders. They are choosing to do much of the work themselves, and contract out to sub-trades for things they can't, or don't want to do. They are cutting out the middlemen, making more money, and enjoying the control they have over how the edifice turns out.

I know that’s happening because I’m in the middle of it. It’s a long, slow slog up the mountain, and the learning curve is steep. But the challenge is invigorating, and the view from the top is going to be fantastic.

So, in case you missed my point, I'm an eager supporter of the self-publishing movement. I've slung on my six-shooter, hitched it up, and I'm heading into town. Ride'em cowgirl!

My blog post on September 30, 2010 mentioned Dean Wesley Smith’s article, “The New World of Publishing: The World is Not Ending.” I’m posting the link here again, because it’ a great review of all the reasons writers might want to self-publish.

And two favorite new websites with a wealth of information on self-publishing are:

The Passive Voice
Terry Whalin

I couldn’t have made it "out west" without a lot of help and encouragement from my friends. Jeff Gerke, my consultant, editor, typesetter and cover designer, was invaluable. When I first embarked on this journey, he said, "It's going to be fun, Ginny."

He was right. It has been fun. That’s one dirty little secret Michael Hyatt and Kevin Weiss didn’t share.

US Presidents and SWAT Teams at the SiWC

2011-10-24T11:55:00.000-07:00

I’ve been away from this blog for a long time, for a number of good reasons. But I’m back and planning on doing more regular posts from now on, because I’ve got lots to say.

Sheesh! I don’t know where to start.

A FAMOUS WAR CRIMINAL ON PEACE-LOVING CANADIAN SOIL

This past weekend I volunteered at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference in Surrey, B.C. The weekend began with pre-conference workshops on Thursday, and the day was spiced with a bit of unexpected excitement.

That day we were sharing the Sheraton Hotel with a local municipal economic summit that featured guest appearances by presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton.

Protesters picketed outside, calling for the immediate arrest of George Bush for the crime of “torture.” It was all very legal. Someone had filed a suit in a local Surrey court, laying criminal charges, and the protesters expected the RCMP to bring the culprit to jail, where justice would finally be served.

Presumably, the ex-president of the United States was to be tried in a Surrey courthouse and convicted. He would then languish in a Canadian prison, paying for his crime but never, of course, having to suffer the intolerable experience of waterboarding.

But the RCMP were busy with other preoccupations, the biggest of which was their assignment to protect the presidents while they were in town.

I arrived at the hotel at 6:45, early for my duties because there would be security checks. I only had to go through a couple on my way to the underground parking lot. The final one was a polite RCMP officer who asked for my picture ID (they had a list of conference volunteers, who had probably been looked up on Facebook by the secret service beforehand ;-), and then asked me a question I couldn’t answer:

“What is the theme of the conference this weekend?” Shucks, I didn’t know. So she prompted me: “It starts with an 'F'."

When it became obvious that I was having a hard time selecting the right "f-word" from my quite extensive writer's vocabulary, she gave me another hint: "It’s “Fantasy.” I must not have looked like much of a security threat because she let me in.

We never saw the famous duo, and their handlers politely refused my request that they give each of the presidents a copy of my newly released novel, which I was sure they would enjoy reading on their flight back to the US of A. My husband pointed out that the books might have been laced with anthrax, an idea that had never crossed my innocent mind. But the whole day was a “novel” experience, all the same.

Hotel personnel said we were being watched through the curtains, in the inner conference room where our registration was temporarily set up, by surveillance technology that could pick out the moles on our faces. Images were being sent to a satellite and bounced back to a room somewhere deep in the bowels of the hotel where everyone’s movements could be monitored. SWAT teams surrounded the hotel, and there was a lock-down during the few hours the presidents were in the building.

The SiWC planners, who were swamped with extra work informing everyone and working around the unusual situation, were not amused, but the rest of us rather enjoyed ourselves. With our important looking conference badges, we traipsed downstairs and sailed around the lobby area, looking as official as possible, weaving in and out amongst the hired hands in suits with wires in their ears and probably some who didn’t look like they were on duty as well.

But, in the end, when the presidents arrived (at an undisclosed time), they were sneaked in and out of the room they’d be speaking in through the kitchen, and we never caught a glimpse. The next time I saw president Bush was on TV at the world series game last night. He looked a bit stressed, but I assume he was only worried about how the game would go. I can’t imagine he was still thinking about how close he came to spending the rest of his life in a Canadian jail.

It would have been a very civilized jail. Maybe that’s why he wasn’t too worried. Everyone knows Canada’s reputation as a peaceful, and peace-loving country.

Unless their hockey team loses, in which case they riot and break things.

FUTURE POSTS

Yes, in case you didn’t notice, my book is now published. I’m waiting for my web designer, the amazing Kramer, to get the website ready for the public eye before I officially announce the release of the book. Then you’ll be hearing more about that.

You’ll also hear more about what I learned at the conference while I was busy monitoring workshops, sitting at the Book Fair waiting for people to buy my book, and checking name tags at the banquet room door.

Expect some exciting news about the current publishing industry buzz—a very loud and frantic buzz specifically around the topics of self-publishing and e-book publication.

The natives are restless, and the establishment is nervous.

An Exhilarating Ride!

2011-09-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

Today I sent my book off to the printer. It’s print-on-demand, so in a few days I’ll have hard copies in my hand!

It's been a long journey. The idea for the book came over 35 years ago, and I've been working it on in a focused way for the last fifteen. At times, I was exhausted, and discouraged, but I kept going because the story wouldn't let me stop.

I was reminded, last night, of “The Bicycle Poem.” This morning I read it again and realized it’s the perfect poem for writers. If I’ve shared it before forgive me, but here it is again.
__________________________________________

The Road of Life

At first I saw God as my observer, my judge,
Keeping track of the things I did wrong,
So as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die.
He was out there sort of like a president.
I recognised His picture when I saw it, but I really didn’t know Him.

But later on when I met Christ,
It seemed as though life were rather like a bike ride,
But it was a tandem bike, and I noticed that Christ was in the back,
Helping me pedal.

I don’t know when it was that He suggested we change places,
But life has not been the same since.

When I had control, I knew the way.
It was rather boring, but predictable. . .
It was the shortest distance between two points.

But when He took the lead,
He knew delightful long cuts, up mountains,
and through rocky places at breakneck speeds.
It was all I could do to hang on!
Even though it looked like madness,
He said, “Pedal!”

I worried and was anxious and asked, “Where are you taking me?”
He laughed and didn’t answer, and I started to learn to trust.
I forgot my boring life and entered into the adventure.
And when I’d say, “I’m scared,” He’d lean back and touch my hand.

He took me to people with gifts I needed,
Gifts of healing, acceptance, and joy.
They gave me gifts to take on my journey,
My Lord’s and mine.

And we were off again.
He said, “Give the gifts away; they’re extra baggage.
Too much weight.”
So I did, to people we met, and I found that in giving
I received, and still our burden was light.

I did not trust Him at first, in control of my life.
I thought He’d wreck it.
But He knows bike secrets, knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners,
Knows how to jump to clear high rocks,
Knows how to fly to shorten scary passages.

And I am learning to shut up and pedal in the strangest places,
And I’m beginning to enjoy the view and the cool breeze in my face
With my delightful, constant companion, Jesus Christ.

And when I’m sure I just can’t do any more
He just smiles and says. . . “Pedal!”

Author unknown

_____________________________________________________

So, dear author/writer friend, look on Jesus’ face today. See His triumphant, delighted smile.

And just pedal.

Photoshoot Do's

2011-07-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

So Kristen, bless her, has asked for a post on the Do’s and Don’t’s of Photoshooting. I’m happy to oblige. There’s lots of fun stuff to say, so I’ll do this topic in two posts.

In this one I’ll give you a list of my Photoshoot Do’s. Next post I’ll give you the Don’ts.

I wanted a photoshoot to get pictures I could use for my book cover, in my book video trailer and on my website. Since I’m marketing and selling the book only online, both my trailer and my website are extremely important. I wanted to find models to represent my characters and film them doing things from scenes in the book. I was very blessed to find models for six of my characters among my friends and family. Many of them not only looked like the characters in my head, they also had personalities to match. It was serendipitously/miraculously fun to find them, and they were delightful to work with. So here’s how it went.

First, a warning: In these posts I might talk like I’m a Photoshoot expert. I’m not. I’m a rank amateur who’s too unpublished and too poor to merit the services of a professional. I’m just having fun here, spouting off about my own experience as an amateur.

Remember that.

If you’re an author with a backer, this post will do you no good. In fact, it might even do you some harm. It might harm everyone, for that matter, but if you’re an amateur, you won’t figure that out so it won’t hurt too much.

Having now been warned, you are welcome to read about my photoshooting experience if you like.

If you are going to do your own photoshoot,

Do:

1. Plan, plan, plan. Every idea you have for a picture should be listed on an excel sheet, with side columns entitled, Photo #, Shoot Time, Models, Setting, Description of Scene, and Props. All the boxes in those columns should be filled in with details, details, details. Then the whole sheet should be re-organized and re-worked until you have the most efficient plan. You will run off a copy of this excel sheet for every person involved in the shoot, so everyone will know what’s happening, when and how.

2. Be considerate of your models. The shooting should be timed for their convenience, and/or for ease of movement from one setting to another. I scheduled all shots of my main character alone at the beginning. Next came shots of him with one other character. Then came shots I needed of those two with a third, etc. I estimated how long each shot would take, and set specific times when each of my models needed to be present. That way they didn’t have to hang around long before their shoot time. Most came for the whole day, just for fun, but I wanted to give them that option.

3. Pay attention to transportation demands. If your shots require several different settings, plan to do all shots in one place at the same time if your model schedule allows. We were able to do all the shots within walking distance of my main character’s house, so this was not a huge problem. We had some shots on his front lawn, some in the city park behind his house, and the ones that needed to be taken against a plain backdrop, so the backgrounds could be easily removed for photoshopping, we took against the concrete wall of the tennis court next door.

4. Make the event fun for everyone. Your mindset and attitude is key for this one. We all agreed beforehand to approach the whole project as an experimental adventure. If a photo worked, that was great. But “the world as we know it” was not going to end if the whole project bombed, so we were able to relax and enjoy the process. The creative juices flowed freely, and so did the laughter. The only downside was that I couldn’t get pictures of my characters scolding each other, because they liked each other and were having too much fun to glare. I kept saying, “This is not funny. He is going to kill you. You have to look at least a little bit upset.” After the shoot was over, Zinovy took us all to lunch at a local restaurant. A good time was had by all.

5. Make provision for contingencies. Especially if the shoot is outdoors. It poured rain the week before our photoshoot, in a month that was supposed to be full of summer sun, and the forecast was for solid rain the day of the shoot. I prayed off and on all night. It poured until 4:00am, when the rain suddenly stopped. By 6:30 it had not started again, and, though the sky was full of threatening clouds, we decided to go for it. We had a beautiful morning. The overcast skies pleased the photographer, who didn’t want to deal with sun glare, and it only began raining again toward the end of the shoot, which we finished with an umbrella over the camera and a total disregard of the wet by everyone else involved. Our camp followers—a motley crew of friends and family members—carried jackets and kept the dog from running in front of the camera as much as possible. Everything worked out just fine.

6. Take a series of action shots for action scenes. This was one of the most important specific decisions we made. Because the director (moi) was an amateur, and we were not working with trained actors, we knew it would be hard to get natural or realistic poses. So I asked the cameraman (also an amateur, though a very talented one), to take a series of shots of the models in each of the action scenes. Then we could pick the best photo from each series. We ended up with so many frames of some of the shots that we could have made a video out of them, and I had lots of choices when I selected the stills. Most of the shots looked very natural, unless the characters were supposed to be mad at each other.

So that’s all I can think of at the moment. I’m sure there are other ideas I could share, but it’s 3:00 am, I’m brain dead, and I have an appointment with my web designer eight hours from now. In any case, I’m pretty sure if you follow these suggestions, you’ll have a great time and everything will work out well.

Not@hng caaan g#o rong.

Too Much to Say

2011-07-14T22:29:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy working on "the book" I haven't had time to blog about it, and now I have so many things to say I don't know where to begin!

I wonder if anything I say here is even helpful to anyone. If it isn't I might as well stop wasting cyber space! Or ethernet?? (I need to get out my handy-dandy Usborne Computer Dictionary and look up some vocab words. Will it matter that the dictionary was published six years ago in England??)

So I'm going to ask you to suggest where I should start with the blog topics. Are there any of these you'd like to read about?

To Swear or Not to Swear
Googling your Story World
10 Ways the Find Tool can Streamline your Revision Process
The Photoshoot, Do's and Don't's
The Value of Critiquing for Friends
Finding an Editing Soul Mate
Getting Endorsements For Your Book--Who, How, What and Why
My Love/Hate Relationship With My New Apple Computer

Are any of these topics of interest to you? Please comment. I need a kick in the pants. If no one says anything, I'll take that as an excuse to ignore the blog for a while.

The picture is one from the photoshoot, photoshopped, of course. The sky was not really that color ;-), though it is in my storyworld. It's a picture of my two bad guys plotting the kidnapping of the little boy.

Footprints

2011-05-05T22:34:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning with an idea about changing the dialogue in one of my scenes. In this scene, Eric asks Zinovy if he’d like to be the commander. Zinovy says, “No. Too much responsibility.”

I think I can make the scene more powerful if I have Zinovy go on to explain that, while not wanting to command other people, he feels it is very important to be in command of his own life.

Zinovy’s near obsession to be in control of his own destiny is his driving motivation throughout the book, and from the first scene that control begins to be wrested away from him . The central conflict, then, becomes his struggle against the forces at work to take that control from him.

At 8:00 a.m. I got a late call to go to teach at one of the local high schools. The teacher needing a sub had entered his request wrong in the call-out system, so the TOC supervisor was calling for me at the last minute. I rushed off to school, still thinking about my new dialogue scene.

I wanted Zinovy to use an idiomatic expression in the conversation but I didn’t know how a Russian would say it. I thought, “I need to talk to a Russian about this.”

I got to school just before the end of the first class. The office had pulled another teacher-on-call from the music room into the class to keep a lid on things until I got there. The TOC reached out to shake my hand as I came in and introduced himself. “Hi, I’m Alexei.”

This pleasant young Russian man has given me his contact information and is pleased to hear more about my book. I plan on asking him to be my Russian consultant. If he’s willing, I’ll pay him to read the book and give me feedback on it’s accuracy in language and customs, and I’ll also ask him for his opinion on how the story would come across to Russian readers.

My secret desire has always been to one day publish the story in Russia. (Well, I guess it’s not secret any more!)

This encounter was another little step on my writing journey. I see the footprints in the Russian winter snow Zinovy is plodding through—the footprints left by the One Who is going down the road ahead of us both.

Killing Three Vultures With One Smooth Stone

2011-04-27T20:44:00.000-07:00

I’ve been busy. I’ve got editorial suggestions coming out my ears (never use cliches) and I’m wading through them (don’t mix metaphors), trying to decide what to change and how.

Jeff Gerke has given me great suggestions. Some of the problems he’s pointed out are minor and some are major. I’ve fixed most of the minor ones. One or two major ones I don’t know how to fix. But what I’m most satisfied with is the way (I think) I’ve fixed three pretty major problems with one solution.

THE VULTURES:

Jeff said my three problems are that:

1) I’ve started the main story too early in the book. I need to set things up—show Zinovy in his normal life—before I “drop the bomb.” If I don’t, the reader has no reference point for normal, so (s)he won’t be super impressed with how greatly things change. Even more importantly, the reader hasn’t had a chance to develop a connection with Zinovy, so (s)he doesn’t care when the bomb drops.

2) My characters aren’t well developed enough. Jeff says I’m a “plot first” writer. Plot comes easily for me but creating real, differentiated (from each other and from me!), complex characters is not so easy. Zinovy needs to be rounded out more.

3) I have way too much information dumping at the beginning of the book, and much of this is in backstory, and so it’s telling instead of showing. That’s a triple no-no, especially in the first few chapters.

To sum up, Jeff says: So in two senses you’ve given something too early—the main story trigger and all this backstory and explanation. For the former, we can’t comprehend it yet because we don’t know what it’s a change from; and for the latter, we just don’t care enough yet about your story or your character to tolerate any telling without getting bored.

So I decided to start the story earlier, when Zinovy is in Russia before he goes up to the Space Station. I added a long first chapter at the beginning of the book, full of action and dialogue.

When I did this, I was able to give the information I’d previously “told” in backstory by showing it in action, as it happened, in real time. The readers got to know Zinovy better by seeing him in action. The reader also now knows “normal” so the change, when it comes, will be more powerful.

AN “AHA” MOMENT!

Another amazing thing happened as I wrote the new beginning. Zinovy’s personality changed. It was as if I got to know him better by putting him in Russia on his home turf.

The “aha” moment—when I discovered Zinovy was much rounder, and more interesting than I’d realized—came as I was reading K.M. Weiland’s book, Crafting Unforgettable Characters. (Highly recommended!) She quoted James Scott Bell, who said that an unforgettable character needs to have “at least one of the following characteristics—grit, wit, and “it.”

Zinovy already had grit. I thought he had “it” (star power), but maybe that’s because I’m his mother and mothers always think their children are stars. But what I suddenly realized was that he could also have wit. Instantly he became more interesting. Still independent, secure inside his fortress walls, but outwardly he now became more personable and a little more approachable. More human. I like this Zinovy much better.

I’ve reader-tested my new beginning and am getting positive responses from my critics. It was fun to write. I felt I finally got into my stride, so to speak. Writing is so much more satisfying when it happens this way.

God Works, In and Around Us

2011-03-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

This morning I’m pondering the great mystery of how God’s sovereignty works in and around our personal choices to fulfil His gracious plan in our lives and in the world.

This thought comes to me as I open my Bible and flip past the page that lists all the books that tell of Israel’s history.

Joshua, Judges, Ruth.
Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther.

Stories rich with evidence of God’s compassionate determination to work salvation for us “in and around” our circumstances, our mistakes, our evil inclinations.

My heart swells with praise.

It occurs to me, as I prepare to write today, that more of those kinds of stories need to be told, so that others can come to know this wonderful Creator. I turn to the Psalms, with a sense that God will lead me to a passage that relates to the thoughts I suspect He has just placed in my mind.

My eyes fall on Psalm 77. It begins with lament. “I cried out to God for help, I cried out to God to hear me.”

The Psalmist then asks himself some really hard questions. You can hear the moan behind them.

Will the Lord reject forever?
Will he never show his favor again?
Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
Has his promise failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has he in anger withheld his compassion?

Through the moaning pain of Asaph, God leads us to the truth:

The Lord will never reject us.
He shows his favor, over and over and over again.
His love is unfailing. It cannot vanish. Ever.
His promises will be fulfilled—all of them, gloriously.
He will never forget to be merciful.
He will pour out his compassion on us forever.

I’m surprised this Psalm doesn’t talk about proclaiming His goodness to others. I’d half expected it to, considering the thoughts I’d had before reading it. I reach for the page, to turn back to the beginning, to read again, and Psalm 78 catches my eye.

I will open my mouth with a parable; I will teach you lessons from the past—things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.

So I begin my writing today, telling more of the Zinovy parable, trusting that Zinovy’s God will take my ideas and weave them into another story of His mercy and compassion. A story future generations will read. A story of the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power and the wonders he has done.

Yes, Zinovy's story is fiction, and it's set in the future, not the past, but it's full of truth about God's unfailing love. Zinovy's story demonstrates how God, in his sovereignty, works in and around our circumstances and our choices, to fulfil His loving purposes.

Sigh. Now I have to get to work. I really don't like writing. It's so much work. Will someone give me a swift kick in the rear?

I found a good article in Writer's Digest today called "Three Secrets to Great Storytelling." If you're looking for a good resource, I recommend this one. You can either subscribe to the magazine, hard copy, or subscribe to their e-mail format online.

The Miracle Has Happened!

2011-02-28T19:44:00.000-08:00

Tonight I received the following message from the woman who performs the song on You Tube, "I Won't be Alone."
_____________________________

Dear Ginny Jaques,

I am glad that you chose to use my song "I Won't Be Alone" for your book video trailer. If you are still interested in using it, can you please provide some information on the book?

Sincerely, Marina Baranova

____________________________

Two days ago, taking a step of faith, believing the permission would come, I went with Stuart and William to the beach to film the intro to the video trailer. It was perfect weather--cold and cloudy with no wind. William managed to look suitably mournful as he trudged up and down the beach, calling for his mother. He looked so much like my protagonist, Zinovy, when he was a little boy. So cute dressed in his bomber jacket and black woolly Russian hat! Stuart got some good shots. I am so encouraged. Another minor miracle along the way. Thank you, God.

I've also heard back from my editor, Jeff Gerke. He has given me really good feedback, but it involves a lot of re-writing. The revising will be worth it, but it will be very HARD WORK!!!! Some significant changes, to the story and the characters, are in the offing.

Meanwhile,I continue the journey with a joyful heart tonight. This little miracle was really important to me.

Next post I'll give you some of the revision suggestions Jeff has made. They're good ones.

Many Minor Miracles

2011-01-29T22:01:00.000-08:00

Albert Einstein once said “There are two ways to live your life; one is as though nothing is a miracle, and the other is as though everything is a miracle.” I honestly believe those are the only two options. And I’m convinced the second one is the truth.

Maybe all authors have the sense that the road they’re on is dappled with little miracles. I sure do. It’s easiest to notice them when you look back. How did I ever get here? I ask. It happens one small step at a time, but those steps are laid out before me by a kind and gracious hand. I’m sure of it.

And now I’m in need of another small miracle.

I’m having so much fun designing a book trailer!

The Beginning of the Book Trailer Production Process

First I wrote some words that might work, to explain, in the text of a book trailer, what the story is about.

Then I began looking for a piece of music I could use in the background. There’s a river in the story, so I went to you tube to find songs about rivers, but nothing really fit. Then one night when I couldn’t sleep (a common malady for writers, isn’t it?), it dawned on me that Russian music might be nice. So I got up and googled “Russian Christian music,” and immediately found the most hauntingly beautiful song, sung by a lovely Russian woman, in Russian.

With just a bit of tweaking, the words I had written fit the cadence of the song perfectly, and the nuances of the music fit the mood as well.

Beautiful!

An unexpected bonus was that the video performance of the song begins with a prelude that fits Zinovy’s story as well. Before the music begins, the video has several seconds of the sound of ocean waves hitting the beach, and twice in that prelude, a young child mournfully cries, “mama.”

Zinovy’s story begins when he’s a grown man, but the loneliness that haunts him as a man—the agony that has led him to build the fortress walls around his heart—begins when he’s five years old and his widowed mother is murdered by the FSB. The prelude to this beautiful song will allow us to portray that part of Zinovy’s backstory, as an introduction to his journey toward the discovery that all his life he has been walking with God.

My son-in-law will produce the book video trailer. His six-year-old son, William, will be the model for Zinovy as a child. One dreary morning this winter (of which there will be many), Stuart will take William to the beach at Ambleside and film him walking along the shore, crying out for his mother.

One little miracle involved the finding of the right kind of costume for William. He needs a hat with a Russian look. No hat designed for a Russian winter exists in balmy Vancouver. But this past weekend, on a business/pleasure trip to Alberta, I found no less than six possible Russian hats in the four thrift stores I visited.

But the miracle I’m really praying for now involves the use of the music. I need to contact the singer of the song to ask permission to use the music for the video. After an extensive search on the internet, including some follow up phone calls, I found myself at the end of a dead end road. I can’t find her anywhere. She may even be in Russia. She may not even speak English.

It will be a miracle if I can track her down. But life is full of miracles. I’m excited to see how this one will come to pass.

More Milestones

2011-01-26T21:15:00.000-08:00

My self-publishing journey has now taken me through a forest of “things to do” that weren't visible on the map when I made my first list. That simple one, remember? (October 1st post: “Self-Publishing To-Do List”)

I mean, how complicated could this self-publishing business be, anyway?

This new set of accomplishments fits under the “Marketing” task on the first list. They are tasks related to the business end of things.

Today I opened a business checking account under the name of my new publishing company. I have 12 checks with the name, “Millennium Journeys Press” at the top! Exciting. My daughter signs on the account, and she’s already helping me think through the business details. This is very much going to be a family affair.

Then I “bought” the company name from the provincial government, and registered the company as a sole proprietorship. Seventy-two dollars later, I am officially in business for myself in British Columbia.

Next step in the marketing set up will be to sign up for PayPal so people can buy the books from my website.

So, if you’re making your own self-publishing “to do” list, you can add:

1. Registering your publishing company with your state or provincial government.
2. Opening a bank account for your company.
3. Setting up with PayPal, if that’s the way you’re going to go. (You can make other arrangements for payment, but PayPal is the one my website designer suggested. It’s easiest for most people who might want to buy from your site.)

If you’re self-publishing through a boutique press, you won’t need your own publishing company. You can use theirs. I wanted to go the route of my own company because I want to keep the cost of the book down for the buyer, and boutique presses take a sizeable percentage of the book price.

Even if you use a boutique press, your own website will be essential, for marketing purposes, and the PayPal option is a good idea if you want to sell your own books on the side. And you certainly will want your own business account to collect all the money you’re going to make!

I’ve already designed a rough draft of a logo for my publishing company name. Some time down the road I’ll have to make it presentable enough to go on the spine of my book.

Still waiting to hear back from the editor, but while I wait I’m doing lots of other fun things. Next post I’ll talk about making book video trailers. Much fun!

It's Official

2011-01-20T08:20:00.001-08:00

This morning I bought the domain name I’ll be using for the website I’m creating. It took me about 60 seconds—half a dozen mouse clicks—but I feel like the ribbon has been cut.

No, wait. That has to come later. The ship hasn’t been built yet. I’m still waiting to hear back from my editor. (hint: Choose a good editor, but recognize that good editors are usually busy ones, so be prepared to wait for his comments.) But it still feels like a milestone—something tangible is created that is not going to be subject to editorial changes.

So the website I’ll use to promote and sell the novel will be www.zinovysjourney.com. Don’t go to the address yet. There’s nothing there. I bought it now just to reserve the name. But I do have a web designer and we’re making plans to get together to talk about the site, as soon as I get the photos I need to give him for the visuals—the graphics, I think they’re called.

How I Found a Web Person I Like:

Months ago I began thinking about the website, but I had no idea where to look for someone to set it up. I wanted someone I could talk to, who would listen, and be creative and skilled enough to take what I have in my head and put it into a proper visual format.

I had a couple of friends who did web design, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to hire a friend. For some business matters you need a little distance from people you love, for obvious reasons. But one of those was a good friend of my son’s—a young man who would be savvy to the audience I want for my book. Weeks ago I sent him a message on his business website, asking him if his company would be interested in my project.

Then I waited.

One thing I’ve learned about doing work for, and with, God is that His timing is usually different from mine. My idea of timing is, “Get the idea, then just get ‘er done.” His is more like, “I’ll give you the idea, then you put it on the back burner to simmer, and when I decide it’s hot enough, then we’ll get ‘er done.”

Have you noticed that Jesus was never in a hurry? In fact, He often seemed to drag his feet. On the way to heal the little girl who was dying, he stopped for a leisurely chat with another woman who needed healing. By the time he got to Jairus’ house, the little girl had died. So he touched her and she came alive again.

He heard Lazarus was sick, so he stayed four days where he was, until Lazarus was good and dead, then he went and called him out of the tomb.

So finally, three days ago, I saw a Facebook status my web designer friend had posted about his daughter. I commented on it, adding a note about my message to him on his work website. He commented back, gave me his phone number at work, and told me to call him the next day. Yesterday I called him and we talked. He referred me to a friend who does my kind of project freelance, who had just e-mailed him saying he could use some new clients. I e-mailed his friend last night and he got back to me. We exchanged several messages, and this morning I got my domain name.

I somehow knew, when Greg gave me Kramer’s name, that this was the person I would work with. Instinctively. And it was the right time. Well, it will be, when the photos are ready. That’s the next step.

Next post I’ll talk about the photo business, and the book trailer we’re producing.

It’s going to be fun!

My New Years' Resolution

2011-01-11T12:40:00.000-08:00

My writing New Year’s resolution is to charge boldly into the new year, embracing the Gulp and Whee mentality I first discovered in the last part of 2010.

My spiritual New Year’s resolution is related to this one, so I’ll post this idea to my Joy blog as well. (Yes, I do compartmentalize and categorize my life. I know I’m not supposed to.)

The G and W mentality is perfectly exemplified in this anonymously written poem that inspires me again every time I read it. I hope it challenges and encourages you, both in your spiritual journey and your writing one.

The Road of Life

At first I saw God as my observer, my judge,
Keeping track of the things I did wrong,
So as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die.
He was out there sort of like a president.
I recognised His picture when I saw it, but I really didn’t know Him.

But later on when I met Christ,
It seemed as though life were rather like a bike ride,
But it was a tandem bike, and I noticed that Christ was in the back,
Helping me pedal.

I don’t know when it was that He suggested we change places,
But life has not been the same since.

When I had control, I knew the way.
It was rather boring, but predictable. . .
It was the shortest distance between two points.

But when He took the lead,
He knew delightful long cuts, up mountains,
and through rocky places at breakneck speeds.
It was all I could do to hang on!
Even though it looked like madness,
He said, “Pedal!”

I worried and was anxious and asked, “Where are you taking me?”
He laughed and didn’t answer, and I started to learn to trust.

I forgot my boring life and entered into the adventure.
And when I’d say, “I’m scared,” He’d lean back and touch my hand.

He took me to people with gifts I needed,
Gifts of healing, acceptance, and joy.
They gave me gifts to take on my journey,
My Lord’s and mine.

And we were off again.
He said, “Give the gifts away; they’re extra baggage.
Too much weight.”
So I did, to people we met, and I found that in giving
I received, and still our burden was light.

I did not trust Him at first, in control of my life.
I thought He’d wreck it.
But He knows bike secrets, knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners,
Knows how to jump to clear high rocks,
Knows how to fly to shorten scary passages.

And I am learning to shut up and pedal in the strangest places,
And I’m beginning to enjoy the view and the cool breeze in my face
With my delightful, constant companion, Jesus Christ.

And when I’m sure I just can’t do any more
He just smiles and says. . . “Pedal!”

Author unknown

The Road I've Taken

2011-01-07T12:37:00.000-08:00

It’s a new year. I made my first resolution, and then reversed the decision.

I am NOT going to make weekly, regular posts to my blogs after all. And I will no longer feel guilty about these sporadic and undisciplined bursts of inspiration at the keyboard either.

My reasoning is that if I have to perform to a timetable, I will be tempted to write drivel just to meet my deadlines. There’s enough drivel on the e-waves. So my new resolution is to write ONLY when I feel I have something that at least one person will benefit from, or enjoy reading.

That’s why I suggest, if you haven’t already, you sign up with FeedBlitz to receive notices about current activity in this space. They’ll send you an e-mail when I’ve posted something new. In the meantime, you can forget about the blog and get on with your own exciting writing journey.

So here, for what it’s worth, is an example of what the process of choosing a title looked like in my case:

The struggle for me was to choose between a title that would capture the attention of potential readers and one that would be true to the story I had written. I couldn’t seem to come up with a compromise that would give me both.

This worried me a little. The idea that the story I had written might not capture the attention of any readers niggled at the back of my mind, but doing something to fix the story felt like trying to put toothpaste back into the tube, or a baby back into the womb. So I decided I’d have to work on the title instead.

I began by checking out the titles of fiction books that are selling right now. Many of them were only one or two words long. Short and sweet. I decided that works, as long as those one or two words are the right ones.

Zinovy’s Journey fits the short and sweet criteria, but many people complained that it wasn’t gripping enough. So I needed to jolt my pre-conditioned thinking out of the deeply entrenched rut my mind had dug over the last thirty years of plodding down the muddy road of writing this story and try to come up with a more exciting alternative.

(It’s amazing to me how many metaphors have to do with roads or journeys. Or is it just that I notice them more, like you notice how many white cars there are on the road when you’ve just bought a white one yourself?)

It’s also amazing how hard it is to climb out of the rut. I needed a big jolt. Since I find brainstorming a great way to overcome writing ruts, I made a brainstorm list of all key words in the story, as I suggested in the last post. My list included the following mix of themes, symbols, and significant objects:

blood
river
water
life
repentance
knife
rape
death
forgiveness
redemption
love
choices
freedom
orphan
lion
cross

Now, how to narrow the list down? The most riveting words were the more concrete ones—blood; river; water; orphan; knife; lion, cross. Things a reader could see or touch. Those things could also easily be portrayed on a book cover. I’d heard that the color, red, is especially arresting on book covers, so I took the concrete, red object and began working with it.

Blood. Can’t get much more gripping than that.

It was a reasonable choice, since the theme of blood runs throughout the story. Zinovy is a professional assassin who has an aversion to the sight of blood. He doesn’t know why he’s got this problem, because he’s repressed the memory of watching KGB agents murder his mother when he was five. The aversion is reinforced by his cousins’ deliberate slaughter of the baby chicks he loved and cared for when he was a child living in their home. Several bloody murders occur in the story, and the slaughter of a lion pride, to harvest the male lion’s heart for ritual purposes, is also bloody. Then there is Zinovy’s vision of the cross, with blood dripping down into the dirt at his feet.

So I took the word, “blood,” and tried to think of another word I could pair it with. Some possible choices were other words in my brainstorm list. I tried Blood Redemption; Blood River; Life-Blood. But none of them sounded just right.

Then I realized that every instance of bloody death in the book was of innocents—people or animals. This realization actually clarified for me a major theme in the book that I’d not noticed before—another benefit of brainstorming key words.

And so I came up with the title, Innocent Blood. Then I tried the new title out on my friends.

I watched the faces of people when I suggested it. They were gripped, for sure. Some thought it was a good attention-getter. Others said it sounded too much like a vampire novel.

Note to writers: You will rarely be able to let your critics make a firm decision for you about anything. You can’t even go with the majority vote, because in most cases there won’t be one. But market testing the title did help me see what issues I would have to contend with.

Here’s where I began to worry about the places my title would take readers if they googled it. I googled, and didn’t like the neighborhood. It wasn’t a place my story could settle down and feel at home in. Yes, the words worked. Innocent Blood was an accurate picture of one of the major themes in the book. But it just didn’t feel right.

So the process came down to a decision between a gripping title that I couldn’t really get comfortable with, even though it fit the story in some ways, and a title that portrayed the real essence of what the book was about.

My chosen title is what the story is really all about--Zinovy's journey toward the discovery of the meaning of his name. I’ve found I can’t make it anything else. It might not be the most marketable title, but another conclusion I’m coming to is that I can’t let market concerns drive my artistic decisions. They can ride in the back seat, but other factors will stay behind the steering wheel.

The process was useful, even if it led me back to square one. At least I can say I’ve explored other options. I resolve, now, to forget about the road not taken and focus on the road ahead, hoping it will lead to the specific readers my story is intended to touch.

Five Steps Toward Finding the Right Title

2010-12-17T13:08:00.000-08:00

As you know, the title you choose for your book will greatly impact the success of your publication and/or marketing. Maybe that’s why it’s so difficult to settle on a name for the story. I’ve wrestled with this decision for months now, but the need to begin designing a website and producing marketing materials has forced me to make a final decision.

In my next post, I'll describe how I worked through this process and came to a final decision about my own book title. In this post, I'll give you the basic outline of the process, in case you’re in this stage of your writing and might find the ideas helpful.

So here’s a summary of the process.

1. Do research. Go to a local bookstore, or Amazon.com, and check out titles of books that jump out at you. Since they grab your attention, these will likely be ones that sell well. Libraries are also useful for this purpose, but less so because their books include ones that aren’t current. If you go to the library, browse the "new acquisitions" shelf or the “suggested reading” section. Look at these titles deliberately, asking yourself why you notice them, and thinking about what questions they raise or what associations you connect with in them. Just going through this process will subconsciously affect your thinking as you go back to the task of naming your own story.

2. Brainstorm. Make a list of every theme, keyword, visual image, significant object, or key geographical location in your story. Images and objects will usually make more powerful title words than themes or keywords, but this is a brianstorm list so don’t limit yourself at this point. (A powerful object or image would be one that is linked to the plot, or important to the protagonist, or something that recurs throughout the book.)

3. Choose words from this brainstorm list and try to connect them. If you can connect one word with another word on the list, that's great. But you could also simply create a phrase around your chosen word; connect your word with other words that might be associated in the mind of a reader; or, best of all, connect your word with one that will suggest a conflict or a paradox. When you've come up with some possible ideas. . .

4. Investigate potential titles on the internet. You’ll want to know if there are other books already out there by that name. You’ll also want to check cultural associations with those words, to see if they fit with your story. When you do this, you’ll discover where the internet would take potential readers if they were to google your title in the future. This is important. You don’t want to lead readers into an uncomfortably strange neighbourhood! (More on this next post.)

5. Finally, get other opinions. Try out your top choices on friends, especially those who have read your manuscript. Read their body language when you make your suggestions. Watch their faces. And when they tell you what title they prefer, ask them why. Then weigh the validity of their reasons when you decide what advice to take and what to ignore.

So this is what I did. It helped. If you’ve gone through this process already and have ideas to add, please do so. I love comments. I’ll put them into a future blog post if you don’t mind.

Meanwhile, may this Christmas season bring you Freedom, Unbroken by pain or loss. May you find Room in your heart for the one who longs to be the Light Lifting your spirit as you walk into the coming year.

(Check out these four titles above. They're on Amazon's list of Top 100 Editor's Choices for 2010.)

Ten Words You Should Kill Before They Murder Your Writing

2010-10-28T13:17:00.000-07:00

I’m going to take a detour around the self-publishing topic to provide a list I promised a fellow volunteer at the Surrey International Writer’s Conference last week. Julian, this post is for you!

I first learned about this kind of word list from Angela Hunt in a workshop at Mt. Hermon Writers’ Conference. She told us we should avoid “weasel” words, and pointed out that they pepper our writing if we don’t deliberately work to avoid them.

In the world of non-fiction, words are termed “weasel” when they blur the truth—when they are used either to deceive the reader, or to protect the writer from having to defend his or her statements. In fiction writing, I think they should be called weasel words because when we use them we weasel out of the writer’s responsibility to choose words carefully.

We do have a responsibility, as writers, to choose our words carefully, but there’s a more practical reason to concern ourselves with weasel words. David Michael Kaplan says: “Any words that aren’t working for you, are working against you.” Eliminating weasel words instantly makes the writing more effective. It’s well worth the time it takes to use that trusty “find” tool to ferret out every one of these pesky critters (Why does that phrase make me think of Randy Ingermanson?)

Words I work hard at avoiding fall mainly into four categories: they are either unnecessary, vague, overused or weak. My actual list of weasels is 40 words long, but I’ll start here with my ten favourites:

1. Very: Absolutely (;-)the worst offender. Very overused (;-), and unnecessary 99.9% of the time.

2. Many: In the category of non-specific words showing (or not showing) amount. Others are several, most, few, etc.

3. There: When used to begin a sentence. See my May 12 blog post, “In the Doghouse.”

4. Was/were: Because they usually denote passive voice.

5. Thought/realized: Indicate telling, not showing. If you’re in your POV properly you won’t need to mention that your character is thinking or realizing. See post Deep Point of View, October 6, 2008.

6. Felt/seemed: Same problem. They’re words that show state of being, rather than action. Show the feelings and impressions whenever possible.

7. Quite: A vague qualifier, in the category with almost, kind of, and my personal favorite: a bit.

8. Thing: Why not say what the thing is? It’s more specific, and therefore more vivid. Something, anything are also in this family of words.

9. Vast: An example of any word that indicates hyperbole. Unnecessary exaggeration. Extremely, hugely, minutely, absolutely are other examples.

10. Actually: One of the words David Kaplan lists as equivalent to the “uhs” and “wells” and “you knows” in conversation. Actually, this might be the worst one!

I’ve been checking out Kaplan’s book as I write, and have rediscovered "Chapter Nine: Revising Your Prose for Power and Punch." I’m going to re-study that chapter and go back to my manuscript one more time. He’s got a better list of words and says all I’ve been trying to say much better.

Get his book: Revision: A Creative Approach to Writing and Rewriting Fiction.

P.S. Interesting note on weasel words from WordIQ.com.

"Though the imagery of the term suggests that it implies the concept of a weasel as being sneaky and able to wiggle out of a tight spot, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language says that the term actually comes from the weasel's ability to suck the contents out of an egg without breaking the shell; thus, weasel words suck the meaning out of a statement while seeming to keep the idea intact."

Duh!

2010-10-25T21:28:00.000-07:00

I just figured out, by experience, how to rate a boutique press. You research the publisher enough to get a look inside some of the books he's published.

If you feel the slightest twinge of embarrassment for even one of the authors, because of the content, or the quality of the writing in his book, it's a vanity press and you don't want to go there.

Great Resources for Self Publishing

2010-10-19T20:58:00.001-07:00

I'm on a guilt trip. It's been way too long since I've posted something useful on this site. So here's my penance. Short and sweet.

Today I got two great books in the mail. I could have gone to the library for them, but I decided these will be keepers--an important permanent addition to my writer's library.

A friend had told me how valuable Dan Poynter's advice was for her. She met him at a conference, and highly recommended his book, Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print and Sell Your Own Book. This book is credited with starting the current self-publishing revolution--the one I'm caught up in.

When I ordered Dan Poynter's book, Amazon recommended another one (surprise, surprise) and it's a keeper too. The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living, by Peter Bowerman, is an insightful, readable, relaxed introduction to the frantic world of self-publishing, with a dash of humor to keep you entertained as you learn.

Both these books are geared to non-fiction manuscripts, but I have already found helpful information for my situation. And I remain undaunted by Bowerman's warning that self-pubbed fiction is harder to sell than non-fiction. This bulldog has got her mouth around a bone and she's not going to let go until someone else takes a nibble or her teeth fall out.

Today my professional editor received my completed manuscript, as perfect as I can make it. Until he writes back and tells me all the things I still need to fix.

Onward and upward, my writing friends.

Self-Publishing To Do List

2010-10-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

Publishing your own book is not as confusing or difficult as I thought it would be. So far, at least. One big asset, and I highly recommend you get one of these, is a professional consultant who is on your side--someone who knows the business, will give good advice and encouragement, and will answer your e-mails quickly.

My guy, Jeff Gerke, has all of these qualifications and more. I'm bugging him lots right now with questions and he's lightening quick with his replies. He is going to be worth all the consulting fees he charges me when it's over.

So here's my list of things to do, in chronological order:

1. Final Revisions. I want to make sure the writing is in top form. This will be the most expensive, the most time-consuming, and the most difficult item on the list. It will also be the most important one, by far. My guy, Jeff, will give me a "Comprehensive Critique" for around $3000, and a "Full Edit" afterward, if I want it, for another $3000. (It's extra expensive because it's such a long book.) Then I'll have to make the revisions. This might be a very long process!

2. Typesetting. Has to be done before the printing company can print the book. Some people do this job themselves, but I don't trust myself. I'm paying Jeff to do this too.

3. Book Cover Design. I have a strong idea of what I want the book cover to look like, so I am taking the iniative with this task. I will hire Jeff to do the final product, but I'll be sending him pictures to incorporate into the design. I had thought I would need to hire an artist to create the image I wanted. This would have been quite expensive. But when I read the great book, Doesn't She Look Natural?, by Angie Hunt, I noticed the cover image was a photograph. Using a photograph will be much cheaper, and I'm having lots of fun getting one. I've found three models who look enough like my three main characters to be related to them. How amazing is that? I'm hiring my creative son-in-law to do a photo shoot with the models posing exactly as I've pictured them on the front of my book. I have no idea if this will work or not, and if Jeff recommends some other design instead I'll listen to him. He knows what sells. But for now, I'm having fun playing around with the idea.

4. Printing. Finding the right printing company is important and takes a bit of research. There are many good services out there, but I think I've found the right one for this project--a young, energetic group of people, with state-of-the-art equipment--and I'm so happy with what they do I'm considering investing in the company. They will print one book at a time, for one penny a page, and mail it directly to the people who order it from my website. Some printing companies require you to buy hundreds of copies of the book up front, which have to be shipped to you and stored in your garage until you can get rid of them, if you can get rid of them! If you're in the market for a printing service, check out Snowfall Press.

5. Marketing. Because I want my books to be affordable to the average reader, I want to sell them myself. Selling through a retailer, or even on Amazon.com, would make my 500-page book way too expensive. Those middlemen are greedy souls. That's why authors publishing the traditional way only make a dollar or less on each sale. If I sell my trade paperback for $12, my profit on each book will be from five to seven dollars, and my readers will feel like they're getting a fair deal. Of course, the downside is I have to do my own marketing. The focus will be the internet. I'll look for sites related to the topic of my book and advertise on those sites. Because my book has an apocolyptic element, I am going to advertise on the December 21, 2012 website, which receives millions of hits a month from people around the world who are interested in "the end of the world as we know it."

6. Website. Because I'm selling the book myself, I'll need a proper website with all the bells and whistles (PayPal and Visa). This is another task I'm going to trust to a professional. The website will be my only interface with potential customers, so it's important that it looks good and works well. I'm looking for the right person for this job. I have lots of ideas for promoting the book on the web, so I'll pay someone to set up the site, then learn how to service it myself, so I can keep it current without spending an arm and a leg.

So that's it. Six things to do. Simple. And I'm pertty sure not#$hing kan go rong.

Gulp and Whee

2010-09-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

I've taken the plunge and decided to publish Zinovy's Journey myself. The title of this post expresses my emotions as I make this grave decision, but Jeff Gerke, who has agreed to do a comprehensive critique for me as a first step, has promised me it will be a fun experience.

It's going to be a steep learning curve, but I'm convinced self-publishing is the way to go.

Here's what pushed me over the edge. Some dear writer-friend out there in bloggerland put me onto this article. I'm sorry I can't remember who, but thank you. It's by Dean Wesley Smith on the advantages of self-publishing in today's world. He so convinced me this is the way to go that if a traditional publisher approached me now wanting to publish my manuscript I think I'd say "No thank you."

Self publishing certainly isn't for everyone. There are drawbacks in terms of steep learning curves for the author, higher costs, and limits to market exposure. But in the right situation, I'm convinced it's the right way to go, and I think I'm in the right situation.

Because. . .

I want more control of the process and the product than I'd get with a traditional publisher.

I am not expecting to become a millionaire, or even to recoup my expenditures. I want to keep the cost down for my readers so everyone who wants to can buy the book. And, very importantly, my husband has agreed to back me financially.

As for market exposure, that's going to be up to the Powers that Be, just like every other uncontrollable aspect of this writing project has been. I do have a unique and interesting advertising idea that I'll share later on, but going this route will at least allow me to get the book into the hands of the friends who keep asking, "When can I read it?", and I'm hoping they will do some advertising for me if they like it.

Going this route is a lot faster as well. If all goes as planned (and when does it ever?), the book could be in print by late spring or early summer next year. That's about a quarter of the time it would take to jump through all the hoops with a traditional publisher.

From time to time I'll post about my procedures and progress. Sign up on Feedblitz if you're interested, because I still haven't developed the discipline I need to post regularly. Feedblitz will alert you whenever I get around to doing it.

Thanks for your interest, and your prayers.

In the Doghouse

2010-05-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

SENTENCE HOUSES

I love words; I love grammar; ergo, I love diagramming sentences.

A diagram is a framework for a sentence, with a space for each word that shows its relationship to other words in the sentence. It's useful for understanding how sentences are structured, and also for studying how they can be re-structured better. That's why diagramming is such a great tool for writers. If the tool is new to you, check it out online. The description and explanation given in About.com is clear and comprehensive, but there are many other sites on the topic as well. Do a search for "sentence diagramming" and a plethora of possibilities will magically appear before your eyes.

I like to think of the diagram as a house for a word family. I'm embarrassed to admit that I go kind of crazy with this analogy, and even more embarrassed to reveal how antiquated my view of parental roles is, but I'll do it anyway. I make the subject of the sentence the father in the family (he sits in the living room and watches TV); the predicate (verb) is the mother (she does all the work); the adjectives are the sons and the adverbs are the daughters. All other parts of speech in the sentence become cousins or grandparents or in-laws or servants, depending on what makes sense to me at the moment.

THE DOGHOUSE

So what does all this have to do with passive voice? And what's up with the title of this blog post?

Well, there is one word in a sentence that doesn't have a place in the family home. When it's used to begin a statement, it's always placed on a separate line just above and to the left of the sentence framework in the diagram. I call that line the doghouse, and the word that belongs there is the word, "there." In fact, that little doggie is sitting right in the first sentence of this paragraph, wagging its tail happily. Can you find it? In this case, I think it's okay, but the decision to use a passive construction should always be a deliberate one.

The word there does not always belong in the doghouse. When it's used as a demonstrative pronoun--a word that indicates a specific geographical position--it's legit. "Put the chair there." is an example of an appropriate use of the there as a demonstrative pronoun. It's used this way in the last sentence of the paragraph above to indicate the place where "that word belongs."

But when the word there begins a sentence, or a clause in a sentence, it's usually not a pronoun, and if it's not, it always makes its subject passive. In a clause that begins with there, the subject will not just sit on the couch and watch TV. He will be in bed sound asleep. So, in our mission to search and destroy unnecessary use of the passive voice, looking for the word, there, is a good place to start. And it's a good way to begin our discussion of the use of the Find Tool as well.

FINDING AND USING THE "FIND" TOOL

The "Find" tool is located in the upper left-hand corner of the screen in the drop-down menu under the "Edit" command. Start your search activity by placing your cursor at the beginning of your document, then go to the "Edit" command, then down to "Find." A box will open, asking you what you want to find. Type the word, "there" in the box.

If you want to focus only on the word when it creates a passive construction, you might want to refine your search. Just make sure the word is capitalized, then hit the "More" button to open another drop-down box, and put a tick in the "Match case" box. If you don't refine your search, the exercise will take you to every instance in the text, including demonstrative pronouns. Refining your search in this way will not lead you to every passive construction using there, because some of them are found in clauses within the sentence, but it will take you to the most obvious ones--the ones that begin sentences.

Once you've defined your search parameters, you're set to go. Click "Find next" and your amazing computer will take you to every place you've used the word to begin a sentence. You can then study the example to determine if it's the best way to phrase the sentence, and change the text if you feel you need an active verb instead. As you continue hitting the "Find next" button, the tool will lead you through your document, pointing out each instance where you have put your subject to sleep in this way.

GROAN, WHAT A LOT OF WORK!

If this sounds like a lot of trouble, you're in trouble. Of course it's a lot of trouble. Revisions are a lot of trouble. But this particular revision process is worth it. Remember, when you do this exercise you're not just cleaning up a particular manuscript. You're also training your brain to be more aware of use of the passive voice. Your next manuscript will be much sharper from the beginning if you do a good job of cleaning out this particular doghouse.

Of course, the word there isn't the only culprit when it comes to use of the passive voice. All forms of the verb "to be" can be used to keep your subject on the couch in front of the TV. Did you notice the passive structure of that sentence? Would this rewording of the sentence be more effective? The verb "to be" can plunk any otherwise healthy subject down on that couch. Well, maybe not, but you get my drift. Eliminating passive voice forces you to choose stronger verbs, and that's usually a really good thing.

Looking for "to be" with the find tool is even more tedious, and will require a little more finesse in defining your search (see "More" for other search options), but if you have a tendency to overuse passive constructions, going through the exercise of finding this verb, at least a few times, will also be well worth the effort.

My next post will talk about another interesting way this tool can help you streamline your revision process. If you've found this post helpful, please comment, and if you have discovered new and unusual ways to use the Find Tool, let me know. I'm constantly on the lookout for helpful ideas.

"To Be" or Not "To Be?"

2010-04-17T09:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we have to talk about one more thing before we can look at the use of the Find Tool to revise for Passive Voice. I promise we'll go into that next post. But first we need to consider some basic grammar usage. Please bear with me, especially those of you who think you hate grammar.

"To Be" is the most important verb in the English language, or in any language, for that matter. It's important because "being" is the essence of everything, at least from the viewpoint of sentient beings, i.e. humans. Being is all that really counts for us, bottom line.

But enough of philosophy. We're writers. We don't care about philosophy, we care about words (;-). So let's talk about the verb, "to be."

We all know that verbs are words that indicate either "action" or "state-of-being," and we understand, as writers, that action verbs usually have more impact on readers than state-of-being ones. Verbs of being are essential, and, in some cases, they will carry more impact than an action verb would. Therefore, we want to become aware of their use, not so we can eliminate them, but so we can use them only in ways that will give greater impact to our writing. So our goal will be to use verbs that show action every time, unless statement of being is necessary for clarity or impact.

So let's talk about "state-of-being" for a bit.

"To be" is not the only "state of being" verb, but it's the basic one, and the most common. And because it's so common, it's also apt to be repetitive. And because it's repetitive, it can easily become that absolute worst kind of word, in the minds of authors and readers, a "boring" one. This paragraph is a great example. Some form of the verb "to be" has been used ten times in the previous four lines.

Boring.

Compare with this paragraph:

She whipped out her pen and scribbled a mass of words in her blog that screamed, "Read me" to writers eager to learn how to grab, and hold, their reader's attention. They sat, spellbound, devouring the scintillating ideas that flowed from her clever mind, through her flying fingers, into the Ethernet, certain they'd find the key to fascinating writing, if not to publication, fame and fortune.

Same length of paragraph. No "to be" verbs. Much more gripping, right? (I said gripping, not accurate.) So, in order to avoid using this verb unnecessarily, we need to understand what it does in a sentence, and why it is sometimes necessary.

The verb "to be" is used to accomplish four things in sentences:
1. To describe a noun in the sentence, as in: The woman was beautiful. Or, I'm sorry.
2. To re-name a noun: The boy is my brother. Or, Mr. James is the principal.
3. To "help" another verb, in conjugation: She is going to be late for class, or He has been sitting there all day.
4. To create a passive situation, in which the subject of a sentence is acted upon, instead of doing the action: The results were reported in early May, but did not become well known until late December.

Again, all four uses of the verb are legitimate, but all four can also create dull writing if not used carefully. For this reason, it's good to become aware of when you use them, and why. If you will take just a bit of time to study your writing for the way you use them, you'll benefit for the rest of your writing career. You will streamline the revision process, because you'll be training your mind to revise unnecessary uses of state-of-being verbs out of your very early drafts before they even hit the paper.

Convinced? I hope so. Next post we'll get right into it, starting with use number 4 above: How to find passive constructions in your text, using the Find Tool.

Sneaking In the Back Door to Publishing

2010-04-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, I will talk about finding passive voice using the "find" tool, as I said I would. But today I want to take a detour and give you information on some good resources I've run into during my recent efforts to "find" a publisher.

As you know, books get published in a variety of ways these days. No longer are the large, mainstream publishing houses the only route to fame and fortune. Remember The Shack? The author self-published that book. Only after he'd done that did a mainstream publisher pick it up.

Now William Young didn't look for a mainstream publisher in the first place. He wrote the book for his children, made fifteen copies, gave them as Christmas presents, and then forgot about it. But if he had approached a mainstream publisher he probably wouldn't have gotten his foot in the door.

Why wouldn't The Shack attract a big-league publisher?

Mainstream publishers look for books that fit a particular market niche. They're smart. They know what sells, and all publishers want to sell books, so they usually only publish books like the ones that have sold well in the past. So if you really want to sell books to mainstream publishers, you need to write stories that fit into the genres they are specifically looking for.

But if your book is already written, and it doesn't fit into any proven "marketable" niche, you'll probably need to look toward self-publishing of some kind. There are many options. Some are more "self" than others. You can do the whole thing yourself, even forming your own publishing company, or you can use what are called "boutique" publishing companies that give you support at various levels in the process, up to actually promoting and distributing your books in bookstores.

Businesses that support self-publishing, or boutique publishing houses that actually publish and help you market books, offer a wealth of information, much of it free, and research into the possibility of this kind of publishing is worthwhile. Here are a couple of reputable options for publishing Christian material that I'm considering:

http://www.believerspress.com
http://www.strategicbookmarketing.com

So if you're looking for a publisher, and you don't have the platform or experience to attract Zondervan or Thomas Nelson, don't despair. Consider the more humble possibilities. They're good, and they're helping authors publish books that otherwise would never be in print.

Next post on the exhilarating topic of passive voice. I promise.

P.S. Check out more detailed discussion of genre and publishing in the March, 2009 posts below.

More About Adverbs

2010-03-30T10:19:00.000-07:00

If you search for adverbs ending in "ly", you'll run into a few specific kinds of words that need particular editorial attention. (Can you count the unnecessary adjectives in that sentence?)

Adverbs that indicate when an action happens are problematic, especially in fiction. I still haven't learned how to use them in a way that pleases me. They seem necessary, yet they sound sophomoric in the writing. Words like: eventually, finally (Most overused word in my manuscript, I'm sure.), suddenly (Sheesh. Sounds like a Dick and Jane reader when I use it.) often come at the beginning of a sentence, and can become repetitious so easily. If anyone has any idea how to deal properly with these "time" descriptors, will you let me know?

Probably and usually are examples of what are called "hedge" words, and should be used deliberately or not at all. It's better simply to leave them off and make a strong statement without the qualifier, unless you have a strong reason to put them in. I use them only when I'm writing from inside the mind of a character who is going through the process of thinking something through. If my character is thinking "probably" or "usually" I'll let it pass. But the author shouldn't be that hedgy.

Supposedly, hurriedly, and all other adverbs where "ed" comes before the "ly" are awkward and archaic. They'll bog your writing down and date you, and most of us don't want to be dated, at least not in that sense.

And here are some sneaky ones: obviously, apparently, and evidently are usually unnecessary. If it's obvious, apparent or evident, why do you have to tell your reader it is? Again, these words are okay if they're in the mind of a character. Your main character might say to himself, "This was obviously going to be a one-sided conversation." Or, "Apparently, he was supposed to read her mind." But when you slip out of a character's mind into narrative, you insult your reader by telling her the obvious.

One strong clue that an adverb is bad, bad, bad is when it's linked with some form of the verb "to be." "It was obviously a wrong number." She was apparently going to refuse." "He was finally getting there." These are all passive constructions, and we all know how bad, bad, bad the passive voice is.

Speaking of passive voice, did you know that clever "find" tool can help you find it? We'll talk about that in the next post. Meanwhile, blessings on your delete button as you search and destroy those unnecessary adverbs.

Who was it who said, "If a word doesn't work for you, it works against you?" Renni Browne? Dave King?

The Find Tool: A Writer's Best Friend

2010-03-26T11:57:00.001-07:00

Does your editor say you have a problem with wordiness? Are you addicted to adverbs, the passive voice, ambiguous pronouns, unnecessary demonstrative pronouns?

If so, you're not alone. These problems hound every writer. But cheer up. Help is at hand. In fact, it's right there under your hand. It's called a mouse, and when it clicks on the "Edit" thinggummy in the top left-hand corner of your screen, then moves down to the "Binocs" icon and clicks there, you've found the solution to all your problems.

Well, okay. That's a bit strong. But at least you've found a great helper when it comes to the problems mentioned above, and many more.

You've probably already discovered this great friend, but you might not have thought of all the ways it can work for you. I'm going to write a series of posts on how I'm using it. If you discover some helpful ones here, that's great. If you've found some I haven't discovered yet, please comment so we can add your discoveries to the list.

Finding Adverbs

This first post is going to be about finding adverbs.

We've all heard the latest news: adverbs are clutter that keep us from choosing stronger verbs. But we were taught to use adverbs in school and it's a hard lesson to un-learn. They slip into our writing automatically. Hence, the need for revisions that ferret them out. This is where the find tool can help.

Many adverbs end in "ly". If you can eliminate those, you've gotten rid of much of your adverb problem. So the trick is to find all the "ly" words in your manuscript and kill the ones you don't need. The find tool can lead you to those pesky critters.

I hear you saying, "Oh groan. That's so much trouble. So nit-picky."

Yes, it is, but the nit-picking is worth the trouble, because going through this process will accomplish much more than the clean-up of the particular manuscript you are trying to sell to a nit-picky editor. As you do it, you're also developing great editorial skills. You're learning to recognize the problem, and you're practicing how to fix it.

And, great bonus here, you're also ensuring the problem does not happen so often in the future. Your internal editor will make sure of that. She'll be nattering in your ear: "See. This is bad. And if you'd learned to do it right in the first place, you wouldn't have to go through this tedious process." If you trudge through the process once, your next rough draft will need a lot less attention, because your mind will be re-trained to avoid adverbs.

So here's the procedure:

1) Set your cursor at the beginning of your manuscript.
2) Then do the mouse thing to find the binocs and click on it. A box will appear over your text, and your cursor will be blinking, ready and waiting, in the box.
3) Type "ly" and one space in the box.
4) Click on the "Find Next" box. The program will take you, one instance at a time, to every word that ends in ly (with two exceptions explained below). Make sure you put a space after the "ly" in the box. If you don't, the tool will highlight every word where the two letters appear together, and you are only interested in finding words that end that way.
5) You must then deal with every instance individually. Some "ly" adverbs you may decide to leave in, but many of them you'll want to delete and choose a more specific verb instead.

About those exceptions: when you type "ly" plus a space in the find box, the program will not take you to any "ly" words that have a comma or a period after them. If you want to do a thorough job you'll also need to search for "ly." and "ly,".

Adverbs that don't end in "ly" are not detectable with the Find tool. You'll have to look for them another way. But the process is invaluable for alerting you to the need to limit adverb use.

Stay tuned. Next post will talk about another editorial use of the tool. Don't know when it will appear. If you want to be alerted, put your e-mail address in the Feedblitz gadget at the top, left-hand side of the blog page. Feedblitz will then send you an e-mail notice when the next post is available.

Happy nit-picking! And please do comment if you have advice to add to this topic.

P.S. I checked this post for "ly" adverbs. Found three. Deleted two of them. Both were the word, "really." I didn't really need either of them. Don't need it here either, do I?

Three Great Websites!

2010-03-09T11:17:00.000-08:00

So today I'm doing research and sending off queries. Cold calling. Yes, I know it's not supposed to work, but I don't know what else to do to get this baby out there. I'm hoping once I do this assignment I will feel less agitated about not going anywhere with it.

In the process I've found what look to be some great resources.

First, Terry Whalin's Right Writing. If you sign up for his e-zine you get free copies of three of his books on using the web. He's written over 60 non-fiction books, was acquisitions editor for Howard Books for five years, and now is with Intermedia Publishing Group, a self-publishing press that looks quite professional.

Then there's a great resource with a wealth of information on Christian publishers at Lyn Cote's website. Lyn Cote sounds like an amazing woman. She's multi-published, very polished, and willing to share her wisdom with up-coming writers. Check out her hints on publishing at:http://www.booksbylyncote.com/writers.html

I'm also looking at a Christian Publishing Service "for authors wanting to present their own book proposals to the leading Christian publishers in the industry." For $98 I can put my manuscript in the electronic slush piles of many of the major publishing houses. Another long-shot, but may be worth a try.

Check them out! If nothing else, this will serve as a legitimate writing procrastination tool.

Lies That Keep Me From Writing

2010-03-06T12:45:00.000-08:00

You can’t do it.
You have nothing to say.
It’s all been said before, better.
There’s too much to read in the world already.
No one will want to read it.
It’s too hard to get right.
It won’t matter.

The Incarnation of the Word

2009-12-25T10:39:00.000-08:00

I’ve just finished reading The Mystery of the Word: Parables of Everyday Faith, by Mike Mason, and I’m challenged, feeling the weight of his words about Words, dipping deeper into the seriousness of writing as a Christian.

He says that the personal appearance of Jesus in his writing is “the only reason I write anything. All that vain spilling of ink is utterly worthless to me, except as a lowly means of setting up, or inviting, the possibility of Incarnation, the possibility of a real manifestation of Christ within the pages of a book and so, hopefully, in the life of some anonymous reader.”

Really? The only reason? Yes. For the Christian writer, it has to be. Only what’s done for Christ will last.

He questions whether this high aim might not be “an absurd vanity.”

“For can my artificial art really become a vehicle for the living God? Can my mere words be transformed into Word?”

Can they? Yes. Even as we are, bodily, the incarnation of God when we walk in the Spirit in this life. When we abide in Him, the reality of His presence radiates out into the world around us, without our doing.

Can it be so also with our words?

In writing, Mike says, it’s not up to us to make this happen. “It’s His job to appear. It’s my job to pray, to hope, to write—and to write, indeed, as though my life depended upon it, as though all my ink were a spillage of blood, and all for the sake of Christ.”

I’m coming to see that writing, for the Christian, is that serious. It frightens me. It awes me. The thought of Jesus being incarnate in my words has changed the way I approach this occupation forever.

Zinovy's Deepest Motivation

2009-11-29T13:23:00.000-08:00

The last post talked about the two motivators that drive the conflict at the beginning of Zinovy’s story. Today I want to delve deeper, to go below Zinovy’s body and his mind, and even his psyche, to discover what drives him at the most primitive level.

All humans have a deep desire to worship. Ingrained in us is the hope that there is actually something more than we find in our own psyches. Something bigger, or wiser, or more righteous than we are. Something, or Someone, we can look up to. Someone we can bow before, knowing at the core of our being that the allegiance we are giving is right and good.

At first Zinovy isn’t aware of this personal, spiritual need, because he’s oblivious to spiritual reality in general. As the new environment he finds himself in begins to deconstruct his naturalistic worldview, he’s forced to consider spiritual possibilities. It is then that the first glimmers of the deeper conflict begin to emerge.

The motivation of Zinovy’s spiritual need is buried so deep it takes the whole second part of the book for him to discover it’s there and do something about it. In the end, his strong need to be in control of his own destiny clashes with his even stronger need to give the control over to a higher Being, and the resolution of this struggle constitutes the central conflict in the story.

So it is in my own life. The longer I walk with God, the more completely I am driven to analyze my motivations. And the more I analyze, the more dissatisfied I become with my own rule over my life. I am a selfish being, but I was created to be a worshiper. The whole of my spiritual journey through this life revolves around this struggle between my human desire to control my own destiny and my desire to bow before my Creator.

The struggle is a universal one. It’s the story of humanity and our relationship to the God who is with us, but also above and outside of us. It’s the story of a Creator who loves so deeply that He gives His all to make peace between the two deepest opposing motivators that drive our lives.

As Zinovy journeys from Canaveral to Jerusalem, he becomes spiritually aware. He learns the meaning of his name. He learns that all his life he has been walking with God. It’s a discovery we all need to make.

Zinovy's Struggle

2009-11-25T14:16:00.000-08:00

I’m following some interesting chatter about Zinovy online. (http://wherethemapends.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=mlsphase2&action=display&thread=1100) Readers are discussing Zinovy’s need to be in control. They identify with that drive. It’s a common human desire. The discussion is leading me to consider my character’s motivation.

Every protagonist must have a motivation, or a need, strong enough to make the story important to the reader. When the need is thwarted by an antagonist, or an antagonistic situation, conflict is created, and the story develops out of that conflict.

Now that I know Zinovy’s story (I’ve read the book!), I have a much clearer idea of what motivates him and how the conflict develops than I did before the story was fully created in my mind.

Zinovy’s immediate need, in the beginning, is simply to survive. At the beginning of the book, the whole crew is focussed on surviving. This is Zinovy’s “felt” need. But beneath that felt need is a stronger motivator that defines Zinovy. It’s connected with his need to survive, but it comes from a deeper place in his psyche. This need is the need to be in control.

All humans, if they are sentient at all, feel the need to be in control. This need is what prompts the two-year-old to say, “I can do it myself.” It’s what drives all human accomplishment, in the end. It’s a selfish motivator, based on either fear or pride, or usually a combination of the two.

I need to be in control because I need to protect myself from the threats that come from the fallen world around me. My desire to be in charge of my own protection, rather than trusting to the protection of another, is driven not only by fear but also by pride. We say (to God, or anyone else who will listen), “I can do it myself.” We write songs stating proudly, “I did it my way.”

When Zinovy’s life is threatened by forces he cannot control, the conflict that develops creates an even deeper tension than simply the tension created by the need to survive. His independence (from God and others) is challenged. His pride is hurt. He is no longer the master of his fate.

So Zinovy experiences tension on both these levels. He needs to survive, and he needs to be the one assuring his survival will happen. The physical and the psychological meld in this immediate conflict.

But all humans are also driven by a deeper need than even the need to be in control. And this is what makes the story so powerful.

More on this topic next post.

Marcher Lord Select

2009-11-21T20:01:00.000-08:00

I’ve been having fun with the Marcher Lord Select contest.

When I went to Denver in September I met with Jeff Gerke. He’s the editor/publisher of Marcher Lord Press, a new publishing company specializing in Christian speculative fiction. He asked for my manuscript and invited me to participate in an innovative venture he’d just begun to help him decide what novel he would choose as his third selection for the Spring 2010 list. He posted blurbs and synopses of 36 manuscripts on line and invited readers to select which one they wanted him to publish, based on that information.

The contest is in full swing. It runs in three or four phases, each phase eliminating manuscripts until, in the end, one will be selected as the winner. While I’m sure mine won’t be the final winner, it has been fun to participate, and I was pleased that mine was one of the 18 that survived the first round.

Now we’re in round two. Readers can only select six of these 18 competing manuscripts, and the selection is based on a reading of the first 500 words of the manuscript.

I’ve talked before on this blog about the importance of beginnings, so I should know better. But seeing my first 500 words in print next to the first 500 words of the other first phase winners has been a disappointment.

My first page needs some working over. I need more action and less inner dialogue if I’m going to compete with great writers like the ones who are in this contest. I found (alas) at least seven other manuscripts that have better openings than mine.

Yes, I will vote for my own manuscript, even though it means I have to (shame-facedly) eliminate two of the seven I feel are the best. But if I’d taken my own advice more deliberately I might have been able to vote for my own with a clear conscience!

If you really want to know how your beginning stands up, it helps to see it next to the competition. And if you want a great beginning, you need to look at no more than the first 500 words. Some faithful readers (like your mother) might be willing to hold out for more than 500 words before they put your book down, but many potential readers will be browsing the bookstore shelves. They’ll read the blurb on the back, for sure. Mine has a good blurb. Good enough that 70 voters in the contest wanted to read more. But the next thing readers will judge your book by is the first page. If you don’t hook them there, you’ll miss them completely. It’s those readers I want to try to reach with my beginning.

So, no matter how the contest turns out, I have learned something that might help me get published in the end—somewhere, somehow. If I can perk up my first page a bit, it could make all the difference. I’m going to go back to the beginning again, literally, to take a look at how I can make it a big enough hook to drag readers into the heart of the story. It’s worth doing, because I’ve got a great story to tell.

P.S. If you’re interested in learning more about Marcher Lord Press, check out the contest at: http://wherethemapends.proboards.com/index.cgi?.
You have to sign into the forum to see the entries and vote, but the sign in is free and safe, and it’s fun to take a peek at what crazy ideas Christian speculative authors are thinking up these days. You'll find the entries under the top board, Marcher Lord Select. There are two contests--a main contest and a premise only one. My manuscript is in Phase 2 of the Main Contest.

What NOT to Do

2009-10-13T17:44:00.000-07:00

I just finished the "final" edit of my 645 page manuscript, ready to send it off to Jeff Gerke. My last editing task--the finishing touch--was to replace all the double spaces between sentences with one. (I haven't yet re-trained my fingers to do only one).

The final save took an awfully long time to complete. A bad sign. That little circle just kept going round and round. I got up and walked away from my computer, praying as I went.

When I came back it had completed. Relieved, I saved all the changes. Then I discovered that the last edit had removed every space from between every word in the whole text. Just over 165,000 corrections.

I hate that "Cannot undo" message.

So what did I learn from this experience?

I learned what not to do:

Do not use the "find" tool to remove double spaces between sentences unless you know what you're doing and do it right.

I learned what to do:

Do save a separate file of your manuscript after every day's edit. If you don't, one careless tap of a key can invalidate every change you've made for the last two weeks.

This caution applies especially if you are putting the final touches on a perfect manuscript that is going to cause an editor to stay up all night reading because your story is so exciting he just can't put it down.

Top Thirteen Things I Learned During my 36-hour Trip to Denver

2009-09-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

This is a report on my ACFW conference experience last weekend. And, yes, the number 13 is significant.

What I learned on the way to the conference:

1. If you’ve had radiation treatments any time in the last three months, you may set off radiation detectors at the border that will delay everyone within a two mile radius while the officers try to discover which one of you is trying to smuggle uranium into the United States.

2. Never even hint to a border crossing officer that you might be missing your flight in Seattle. It only slows them down.

3. Twenty-year old Buicks can cruise along very nicely on the straight-away at 65 or 70 miles an hour if they have to, even though they might be burning up the gas faster.

4. Best Value is a good, cheap motel on International Boulevard that also offers shuttles to the airport 24-hours a day.

5. If you want to fly standby, you have to arrive at the airport two hours before the first flight (which goes out at 6:00 am) to give the airlines people time to figure out what you’re doing and arrange it.

6. All flights are always full, and everyone who has paid for their ticket shows up, often at the last minute just as your hopes for a successful stand-by ticket have risen to new heights. Everyone, that is, except people who have missed their flights the day before because of border delays.

7. Do not eat chili at any time during a 12-hour layover in any airport, even though it seems like a good idea at the time.

8. If you want to read or sleep during 12-hour layovers in airports, don’t strike up conversations with race car mechanics sitting next to you in the gate area. But if you would enjoy meeting interesting characters like Les, who has a daughter named Summer Breeze (named after the song) and a son named Talon, and if you would like to learn a whole lot of other interesting things on a 12-hour layover in the airport, go for it.

9. The reason you have to change the oil in your car often is because oil contains additives that keep your gaskets supple. The additives burn up after awhile, so you need to change the oil to get fresh ones.

10. If you’re smoking anything with your buddies around a campfire in an empty lot anywhere near the Seattle International Airport runway (or any airport runway, for that matter), and it occurs to one of you that it would be a good idea to add some old tires to your campfire, don’t. It scares the tower people when they see their planes descending through a cloud of black smoke.

11. If you haven’t played Sudoku in a long time, you’ve lost your edge and will have to learn to win it all over again.

12. Coffee should be consumed only when you want to stay awake for a long time after you drink it.

13. No obstacles in your writing journey will prevent God from doing what He wants to with your writing, and one ten-minute conversation with an editor can make the whole trip worthwhile, even if you arrive when the conference is half over.

Killing Time so I Don't Have to Write

2009-08-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been lazy lately. Not posted anything in a long time. I do have good intentions and one day they'll pay off. Meanwhile, as I "research" the net between checks of my e-mail messages, I run across interesting spam. It occurs to me that many of the following would either make intriguing story ideas or beguiling character traits.

For example,

Story ideas:

What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each
other?

I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your
computer history if you die.

Bad decisions make good stories.

Character traits or realistic actions:

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take two trips to bring my groceries in.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent someone from cutting in at the front.

Everytime I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as
in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure.

And truisms especially for writers:

I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I
want to save any changes to my ten page research paper (or Land Contract!) that I swear I did not make any changes to.

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

So there you have it. Something else to read so you don't have to write. Enjoy.

One More On Beginnings

2009-05-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

So, continuing on the topic of beginnings, if a writer really wants to fix a weak start there are three ways it can be done.

We’ve already said a weak start is one that lacks drama. Drama always involves tension, or conflict, and usually also involves action. So some combination of tension/conflict and action is necessary, right up front.

One way to put it up front is to begin the novel farther along in the story. How? Just read from the beginning of the manuscript and look for the first real drama, then begin the story there. Any important information in the skipped section can be tucked into other scenes later on. Braveheart has written a great action scene but it doesn’t come until well into his story. If he wanted a greater impact with his beginning, he could choose to begin his story with this action scene and introduce his protagonist as he’s running from the bullets.

A word of caution if you choose this solution: It’s generally not a good idea to begin a novel-length piece of writing at an exciting point and then go back in time to begin the actual plotline. It can be done, but you risk a couple of potholes.

First, doing this will technically make your whole novel a backstory. We’ve already touched on why backstory is dangerous. Backstory destroys forward action, and forward action is something you have to maintain in order to keep your reader chugging happily down the reading road. Readers don’t want interruptions to their train of thought. They don't want to have to stop to fix a flat tire.

Second, if not done skilfully, an action-packed opening followed by backstory can look suspiciously like a writing device. You don’t want your reader to feel you’ve tricked him into reading the story. So, if Braveheart chooses to spice up his beginning this way, he’ll have to convince the reader there’s a good reason for doing so, and the real story, when it picks up again, will have to be exciting too. The travel brochure can't be more beautiful than the actual road trek.

I really think Braveheart’s action scene is in the right place in his manuscript, however. He’s right in thinking that much needs to be said, and could be said dramatically, before his protagonist begins dodging bullets. So, for Braveheart, I would recommend a different solution.

He could choose to begin at the same place and time, but recreate the scene with more drama.

As it stands now, his opening scene is primarily inner dialogue by the protagonist as he sits at breakfast and occasionally talks with the waitress about his meal. BH does a great job of introducing his subject matter through the interior dialogue, but neither the dialogue, nor the conversation with the waitress, nor the action of eating, contributes drama to the situation. The waitress is too pleasant. The meal is too ordinary. The information is pretty academic. Even the weather is too placid to stir up any hint of suspense.

If BH introduced an antagonist here, or gave us some sense of foreboding in the setting, as in "It was a dark and stormy night,” or even just gave his protagonist some kind of inner turmoil, the scene would immediately become more gripping.

A third way to deal with weak beginnings is to begin the story earlier. This might also be a good option for Braveheart. His story begins with the protagonist already started on his quest. That’s okay, but I think there are opportunities for great drama in the planning of the quest, or even in his choosing to begin the quest.

What obstacles does his protagonist have to overcome to begin this journey? Human, or psychological, or even physical? Could he have a broken leg?

Or what, about the quest, captures his interest in the first place? Perhaps an offhand remark he makes to someone that causes an extreme reaction? Maybe even an action that threatens the protagonist’s life? Or the life of the person he loves most?

And what is it about this character that makes him vulnerable to this kind of a quest? Does he have the kind of curiosity that kills cats?

If this looks like brainstorming, it is. Brainstorming is an important activity for writers. It’s especially helpful when first developing characters and story ideas, but it’s amazing how useful it can be at any point later on when characters or their plotlines need some added zip. The wonderful thing about a book manuscript is that it can always be changed at any time in the pre-publishing process. And change is good.

No matter how Braveheart chooses to deal with this problem, it definitely needs to be done if he’s interested in publishing.

That’s a pretty firm statement. Reminds me of the time I gave a fellow writer my critique on a draft of his manuscript that I thought was pretty rough. I suggested major re-writes to put more action and drama in his beginning. He thanked me politely. A few days later he e-mailed saying that Zondervan had seen his manuscript (in the form I thought was rough, and without his making any of the corrections I’d suggested) and loved it. He’s got a contract and the book will come out in 2011.

Dang. That’s not a very good thing to say. I’m trying to develop credibility here.

Oh well. Enough with beginnings. Next post will give us some fun and easy things to do to make our writing better using a great Microsoft Word function.

Tips for Writers on Beginnings

2009-05-20T07:09:00.000-07:00

Today I’m starting a blog series called “Tips for Beginning Writers.” I’ve recently met a delightful writer who’s WIP (work in progress) uses DaVinci Code-style intrigue to uncover some astonishing, historically accurate secrets in the foundations of the government of one of the world’s most well developed nations. He has graciously given me permission to use portions of his manuscript to illustrate the writing concepts I want to talk about in this series. In the great and glorious tradition of All The President’s Men, I’ve given him, my secret source, a nickname. From now on I will refer to him as Braveheart, for reasons every writer who submits to critiquing by someone else will understand immediately.

We’ll begin our tips for beginning writers, appropriately enough, at the beginning. *

Braveheart’s beginning has some problems. This is not unusual. In fact, it should be considered normal. The beginning of a novel is a really hard place to start. Even if you think you know where your story should start, pitfalls abound when you try to put the beginning on paper.

Most of the problems with beginnings result from the need to give the readers enough information to get them into the story, while creating enough suspense to make them want to read on. This balance between information and suspense is a delicate one. Braveheart’s main problem is that he skews heavily on the information side. His story begins with an overload of background information that mires the reader in details without giving him/her an emotional reason to care about the details.

Braveheart will probably decide, later on in the writing process, that much of the information he gives here at the beginning is unnecessary. It’s all part of his own backstory—the things he needs to know about his character that the reader will never need to know. He may also find that the necessary pieces of information he’s given here will come out more naturally later on, as the story progresses. He would do better, here at the beginning, to go heavy on the suspense and dole out the information later.

Here’s the essence of the first tip for beginning writers: Braveheart needs to pound into his writer’s mind the need for forward action. Forward action will be an important objective all the way through the novel, but it is essential in the beginning if he wants his readers to stay with him.

I’m not going to hold The DaVinci Code up as an example of good writing. Most experts agree it isn’t. But Dan Brown has the right idea about the use of suspense to grab an audience. His information is communicated to his readers in the midst of emotionally-gripping, gut-wrenching, forward action. Admittedly, Dan Brown’s method of communicating technical information is somewhat bizarre. It’s hard to imagine how the intricacies of interpretations of the Holy Grail could be effectively communicated while the protagonist and his partner are running down the hallway dodging bullets, but, though the technique wouldn’t work in real life, it’s apparently effective for grabbing readers’ attention and holding it. (Millions of readers can’t be wrong, right?) The real trick is to engage and communicate at the same time. It would be even better to do both without asking the reader to suspend disbelief as Dan Brown does!

Next blog post will elaborate on this opportunity for building suspense and communicating necessary information at the beginning of Braveheart’s story. But for now it’s important to note that a weak beginning is not a major problem at the beginning of the writing process. The beginning is a stepping stone for the writer as well as for the reader. A starting place only. Once you’ve gotten past the beginning—gotten into the rhythm of the writing and found your pace—the story will take off and almost tell itself. You can always go back and fix the beginning after you’ve written the story. In fact, once you’ve gotten closer to the end of the story, you may find the beginning will fall into place naturally and easily.
___________________________________________

* Don’t ever write like this. In blogs you can play silly word games—you can Be a Ludicrously Obnoxious Gabber—if you want because blogs are about what you want to write, not about what other people need to read. But in the real world of writing you want to avoid cleverness at all costs. People—especially editor-types—will roll their eyes and toss your manuscript in the wastebasket if you write like this for them.

Seriously Great Advice for Christian Writers

2009-05-12T02:47:00.000-07:00

I just read Greg Laurie's e-devotional for today and found it very pertinent to Christian writers (http://www.harvest.org/). Greg admonishes us, as Christians, to "T.H.I.N.K. About it!"

It's so easy to "sound off" when we read or hear something that offends the Christian faith. But those gut reactions need to be filtered through Paul's admonition to "speak the truth in love" if we're going to be effective apologists.

Greg Laurie recommends we consider the acronym "T.H.I.N.K." before we speak.

T- Is it Truthful?
H- Is it Helpful?
I- Is it Inspiring?
N- Is it Necessary?
K- Is it Kind?"

I can't “think” of better advice to Christian writers.

One of the best examples of a writer who communicates this way is Randy Ingermanson. Randy says his only "claim to fame" is that he's "the only theoretical physicist who writes Christian fiction," but I believe he's being too modest. He has written some powerful Christian fiction (http://www.ingermanson.com/books/index.php), but he also produces the largest e-zine for writers in the world.

His e-zine services 14,000 subscribers and receives 4000 to 6000 hits on a typical day. When I asked him how many countries those 14,000 subscribers were from he wasn't sure. His guess was between 50 and 100.

His e-zine is a "must-read" for Christian writers. His advice is invaluable. (He helped me solve a huge problem with the beginning of my current WIP.)

When he's not working on his e-zine or his current novel manuscript, Randy is writing thoughtful, respectful responses to critics of the faith. Check out his response to the Jesus Tomb controversy if you're interested (http://www.ingermanson.com/jesus/art/stats.php).

Randy does what thoughtful Christian writers must do and he does it well. He engages with this culture in a way that makes a difference by speaking the truth in love.

Go to http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com/blog if you'd like to sign up for his free Writer's e-zine.

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:6

Creating Genres

2009-03-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I talked about the importance of researching the market and writing to specifications if your primary goal is to become an author. Today I want to talk about writing when fame and fortune is not your first aim--when you have a story burning a hole in your heart and the heartburn is only eased when you spew the story into a Word file. Yes, you do want to publish, but your story drives the genre issue, rather than the genre dictating the story parameters.

If you’re writing because you have a particular story you want to promote, you may have a harder time finding a publisher. Often those kinds of stories don’t fit within the very narrow genre guidelines that publishers are asking for. And if your book is unique enough that it doesn’t fit into any existing niche, many publishers will turn it down, simply for that reason. Again, they don’t want to take unnecessary risks.

There are exceptions—notable ones. Some of those exceptions become best-sellers, and often that’s how new genres are created. The Left Behind series is an example. These books created a market for a specific sub-genre of post-apocalyptic stories and became best sellers beyond all expectations. The creators of these books found a publisher only because they were already best-selling authors in other genres (they had platforms), and the Christian publishing house that turned down the first book in this series is still being good-naturedly teased by the publishing house that decided to go with it and made lots of money.

The Shack is another example of writing outside the box that found, or created, its own niche. This story didn’t fit into any genre and was so different no publisher would have touched it with a ten-foot red pencil. William Young was not writing for a market when he created this book. He wrote it for his children. But when others who read the manuscript connected with the content, he decided to self-publish. He did some marketing on the side and the book took off in the ratings. You can bet there are publishing houses that wish they had gotten their hands on it in the first place.

In an interview on the Christian talk show, 100 Huntley Street, Young was asked if he thought he had created a new genre with the writing of The Shack. I’m not sure he did. Interestingly enough, The DaVinci Code probably introduced the genre that The Shack fits into. Both are novels that use plot and dialogue to convey a theological or doctrinal message. Tosca Lee’s books fit into that category as well. In Demon: A Memoir Tosca uses dialogue almost exclusively (and plot only as background) to communicate a fictional but biblically-based perspective on how evil came into the world and how it will leave.

I am encouraged by this development because I think the story that’s been burning a hole in my heart might fit in this new genre. A few years ago, a novel that allowed its characters to discuss theology would have died on the vine. Now there’s hope. There may be something else fatally wrong with my manuscript, but I’m encouraged to know that at least the story idea has a chance in today’s market.

But enough ruminating about publishing. My next posts will focus on the mechanics of writing. Not grammar. I know how you hate that topic. Instead, I’d like to share some of the tricks I’ve learned about using Microsoft Word to create a best-seller. (Sigh.) I mean a manuscript. Microsoft Word can be either a friend or a foe. I’d like to help you discover some of its friendly capabilities and also tell you how to defeat at least one of its little deadly and devious attempts to frustrate you on your journey toward publication. Please come back next time for: “Microsoft Word: Friend and Foe.”

Genre and Writing

2009-03-24T12:46:00.000-07:00

In this post, and the next, I want to talk about writing to genre specifications and about how new genres are created. (I know I said only one more post on genre, but I’ve changed my mind. I’m a girl so I can do that.)

How you go about writing will depend on your motivation for doing it. If your primary aim is to become a writer—to develop a writing career—you will approach the process in a specific way. I’ll talk to that scenario in this post.

If, on the other hand, your desire to write is story-driven—if a story is burning a hole in your heart and you have to write it down to stop the pain—your approach will be different. Tomorrow I’ll post some thoughts on that scenario.

These thoughts are geared primarily toward the creation of book-length fiction, but much of what I say would apply to short fiction and non-fiction as well. Researching and writing to specifications is essential if you want to publish magazine articles, for example.

Writing to Genre Specs

If your primary goal is to become an author (a published writer), you need to begin by doing research to find out what specific genres are being sought out by publishers and agents, and then you need to write to those markets. Publishers don’t take risks, especially in today’s tough market. This applies both to secular publishers (the American Booksellers Association, ABA, in North America) and to Christian (the Christian Booksellers Association, CBA). "The bottom line" is what drives their decisions about what to publish. They have to make money to stay alive.

Publishers look for three things in manuscripts they consider: 1) professionalism of the writing; 2) quality of the story; and 3) marketability. Marketability has to do with staying alive, and marketability has a lot to do with genre.

Each publishing house has its tentacles into a particular, usually very strictly defined, market niche. They know what specific kinds of stories have sold for them in the past, and, with some exceptions, they stick to those kinds of stories.

They also know their competitors and they don’t publish books in genres that are already being successfully marketed by other houses. They find their own niche and go with it. That’s why you need to do research to find out which publishers are buying which kinds of stories.

You would also do well to do some research on trends. Publishers do that. They want to know what has sold in the past, but they also try to predict what will sell in the future. They think ahead—usually three to five years ahead, because once they’ve found a manuscript they like, it takes at least two years to turn it into a book and to market it.

(Someone want to edit that sentence? Do you see what’s wrong with it? Hint: last word of the last sentence.)

A writer I met at the ACFW conference in September had a story that was set in the civil war. One of the big publishing houses picked it up eagerly. Why? They were obviously impressed with the writing and the story, but it also helped that the U.S. is planning, between 2011 and 2015, to mark the 150-year celebration of the Civil War. This publisher is expecting that celebration to create a market demand for books about the Civil War.

That trend is already developing, in fact. Google “Civil War” and you’ll see it happening before your eyes.

Here’s a great idea: if you already have a story in mind, Google the topic and see if you can find some stirring of interest beginning to happen in the culture. Let your imagination lead you to a place, down the road, where readers might be heading. Think in terms not only of story idea, but setting (Where on earth--or in space--will attention be focused in three years?), the plot (What kinds of things will be happening in the world?), or characters (What kind of person will people be fascinated with in three years?) Ask yourself, Can I clothe this story idea in garments that will be appealing to readers three to five years from now?

So if you want to sell a manuscript to a publisher, look at the kinds of things they sell, but also look at trends. Decide how long it will take you to prepare a manuscript, then pick a topic that will catch the attention of readers and publishers within that time frame.

If you’re just writing because you have a story in your head that is making you tell it, you will look at the whole business of getting published differently. I'll talk about that situation in tomorrow’s post.

What to Call the Baby: About Genres

2009-03-21T00:43:00.000-07:00

This post is another one about a writer's vocabulary, and it’s very basic. I know some of you will be rolling your eyes, and I don’t blame you. (“Sheesh. Just how dumb does she think I am anyway?”) This is stuff you learned in high school, unless you hated English and spent class time daydreaming and looking out the window, in which case you might have missed some of it. So I apologize. My excuse is that I’m an English teacher and I have an obsession with “covering the material.”

You can skip the next two blog entries without doing irrevocable damage to your writing career, but at some point identifying your genre will become important. I wallowed around for a while trying to figure out the 'ins' and 'outs' of it. I still wallow, but I’m gradually coming to terms with the fact that my novel doesn’t fit anywhere so it’s getting easier.

I promise to get to the good stuff in upcoming posts, but please humor me for just two more posts on genre talk, okay?

GENRE LANGUAGE

As I said in the previous post, genre is a type, or kind of writing. All writing falls into four very broad genre categories:

Poetry is anything that is written in some kind of poetic form. That’s a loose definition, I know, but modern poetry is not always easily categorized. A contemporary poem may or may not display rhyme or rhythm, but it should at least be formatted with an emphasis on lines rather than sentences or paragraphs. Every poem should also use poetic, or figurative, language and most poems also have a figurative, rather than a literal meaning.

Prose is easy. It’s any piece of writing that is not poetry, including both fiction and non-fiction. It’s more a “style” of writing than a “kind.”

Non-Fiction is writing that is literally or historically true, usually presented with little subjective interpretation by the author. Non-fiction writing could be historical accounts of events or people’s lives, including newspaper articles, biographies or autobiographies, or it could be a presentation of thoughts and ideas of the author on a specific “real” topic, such as “how-to” books or articles.

Fiction is writing that is the opposite of non-fiction. Though it might be inspired by actual facts, the story is an imaginative account that is only “real” in the mind of the writer and the reader.

NB: Some recent best-selling books have deliberately (and some would say dishonestly) blurred the line between fiction and non-fiction. The Da Vinci Code, mixes fiction and historical facts indiscriminately, which makes for interesting reading but the confusion that arises from the mixture can be disconcerting. Some memoirs also fit into this category. A Million Little Pieces sold a lot of copies and received rave reviews until someone discovered that the “memories” of this purportedly autobiographical memoir were fictitious. Most serious authors look sternly down their noses on this writing technique and do not respect authors who use it.

Categories of writing can be further broken down into genres. And this is where things really get confusing.

TO THINK, OR NOT TO THINK

The most frustrating and confusing discussions about genre dance around the difference between literary and non-literary works. No one—not even the “experts”—have a complete handle on where the difference lies. Having said that, I will meekly attempt an explanation of the difference based on what I have learned in my university English classes and in writer’s conference workshops I’ve attended on the topic.

Strictly speaking, literary fiction uses figurative language much more deliberately than other kinds of fiction; the plot and characters are used to develop metaphorical as well as literal meanings; and literary fiction centers around universal themes about life and the human condition. Literary fiction is designed primarily to challenge the reader’s thinking and develop in him/her a deeper human experience. Entertainment is a secondary aim, if it is an aim at all, in literary fiction.

At the other extreme, what is generally called “pulp” fiction, or “pop” fiction is created for the sole purpose of entertainment. It provides an escape from real life, rather than an avenue into it. Pulp/pop fiction appeals to the masses and does nothing more for them than give them a respite from the harsh realities of the world they live in.

Fortunately, a broad category of writing that falls somewhere between literature and pulp fiction has developed, and that’s what most general readers are buying today. This style of writing makes some use of figurative language, reflects the complexities of real life, and deals with significant themes and issues, without being either "stuffy" or "fluffy." Today’s more sophisticated readers enjoy this middle ground and many, though not all, of the best sellers would fall into this category. And while the literary elite used to look down on the more non-literary styles as being unworthy of their place in the world of published writing, the prejudices are relaxing somewhat.

If you want to reach a large market audience, you’ll probably want to steer clear of writing purely literary pieces. And if you want to say something significant, you’ll want to avoid the pulp fiction market. Anything you want to say can be written for the more general market in any one (or three or four or five) of a number of genres.

NARROWING THE FIELD: SPECIFIC GENRES

There are a plethora of genres and sub-genres out there. Good luck at figuring them out. Romance, for example, is a general genre category with sub-genres galore (including such sub-categories as historical, contemporary, medical, Amish). Mysteries might include detective stories, police stories, or stories with humorous elements and happy endings, called “cozy mysteries,” such as the Murder She Wrote series. Sci/Fi is increasingly being sub-divided into separate Science Fiction and Fantasy categories with the recent upsurge of new fantasy writers and their huge following among younger readers. And non-fiction works fall into a whole other mess of sub-genres as well.

Wikipedia gives a great comprehensive list of writing genres. Check it out for more detailed information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre#List_of_genres

One more post coming tomorrow on the genre topic, then I promise to begin a rash of more practical entries. I'm especially keen to share some great tips for using Microsoft Word to streamline your writing/revision process. Please stay tuned.

The Writer's Language

2009-03-18T23:16:00.000-07:00

When you write, it’s good to discuss what you’re doing in the language of the profession. Here are some tips about the words you will want to use when you describe what you’re doing.

Q: What is the difference between an author and a writer?

A: A writer is anyone who writes anything with an eye to publication. An author is a writer who has been published. What counts as “publication” is a little questionable. I’ve been published a number of times but not for money, so I don’t consider myself an author yet. It’s sort of up to you when you start calling yourself an author, but you’re always free to call yourself a writer if you’ve done enough of it to feel like one. I’m waiting until I get my first check to call myself an author, and even then I may not feel quite ready.

Q: What is a WIP?

A: A WIP is a Work-In-Progress. It applies to any piece of writing you’re working on, whether it’s a book-length manuscript or an article, fiction or non-fiction, prose or poetry.

Q: How do you refer to your WIP and how do you title your manuscripts?

A: In the literary world, titles of works are punctuated differently depending mostly on their length. Titles of book-length works are either underlined or put in italics. Titles of smaller works, such as magazine articles or chapters in books, are put in double quotation marks. However, this only applies to published manuscripts. Before a manuscript is published the title is simply put in double quotation marks, like titles of published articles would be, and before publication the work is called a “manuscript” not a “novel” or a “book” or an “article.”

Q: I’ve heard the terms, “brand” and “platform.” What do they mean?

A: I’m still trying to figure that out, but here’s what I’ve decided so far.

A brand is very much like the mark cowpokes put on the butts of their cattle to distinguish them from animals that belong to other ranches. It’s a distinguishing characteristic of a writer that sets him/her apart from the rest of the herd. It’s very much connected with the genre they write in and their writing style. If it’s successful, it’s also geared deliberately toward the market they want to reach.

For an example of how branding works outside the publishing business, think of the music you hear when you wander into a clothing store in the mall. It’s an element of the store’s “brand.” The music blaring from the speakers in The Gap sends me up the wall. That tells me I’m shopping in the wrong store. If I bought something in that store and wore it outside my house my kids would roll their eyes and a picture of my cellulite thighs would probably end up on the internet with the caption, “At some point people should stop wearing Daisy shorts.”

I have a writer friend who writes light-hearted young adult novels. Everywhere she goes she wears short-short, flared skirts with tights underneath and one leg of the tights is always a different color than the other. That’s part of her brand. It says something about her (and her books) and it resonates with the young audience she is writing for.

Brands are hard to come up with. Sometimes they just develop naturally after you’ve written for a while. I’m not going to worry too much about my brand until I have a butt large enough to have one burned onto.

Platform is related to brand, but is slightly different. Your platform is the stage you stand on to advertise yourself and your writing. It’s your public image and it’s related to what you do besides writing to get people’s attention.

A platform would include your personal or professional qualifications and/or expertise and what you do to make them available to other people. You might develop a platform by blogging on topics that provide useful information to readers, or by developing a speaking career, or by writing and publishing in areas either related or unrelated to your current writing project.

Tim LaHaye stood on a well-developed platform of writing in the area of biblical prophecy before he wrote the Left Behind series. Rick Warren’s platform was his pulpit. Yours might not be so dramatically significant, but anything you can do to make a name for yourself can become the platform from which you launch your writing career.

Q: What is “genre” and how do you decide what genre you’re writing fits into?

A: Good question. Genre is, simply put, the kind of story you are telling—the species, if you will. That’s where the simplicity ends, however. The definition of “genre” is a little like quicksilver. It’s hard (and sometimes dangerous) to hold in your hand. Because it’s such a huge topic, I’ll save it for a separate post. Please check in next time for “What to call the baby.”

Manuscript Formatting for Dum Dum's

2009-03-17T11:46:00.000-07:00

Here’s my first tip for dum dum writers: If you ever want to see your story or article in print you MUST pay careful attention to manuscript formatting. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions (“FAQ’s” in computer lingo) about manuscript formatting.

Q: What is manuscript formatting?

A: Manuscript formatting is simply the way your story is laid out on the page. It includes such things as width of your margins, spacing of your lines, size and type of your letters (“font” in computer lingo—Yes, I said this was for dum dums), how many spaces you indent for paragraphs and where you place your title and chapter headings.

Q: My writing is brilliant and my plot is riveting. Isn’t that enough to get my book published? Who cares about these itty bitty details?

A: The short answer is, no, it’s not enough. In order to get your manuscript published, you have to get the attention of people with extreme attention deficit disorder. I’m talking about agents and editors. They are the ones who care about the itty bitty details, and they won’t read far enough in your manuscript to discover your brilliant writing and riveting plot if you don’t format properly.

Q: That doesn’t make sense. Don’t editors and agents understand they might be missing the next War and Peace by not paying attention to content instead of details? I bet Tolstoy’s publishers weren’t worried about format.

A: I know it doesn’t make sense but that’s the way it is. Tolstoy’s editors weren’t deluged by thousands of manuscripts demanding to be published like today’s editors are. Editors and agents have minds like a steel trap: they snap to conclusions and they don’t unsnap. An editor/agent will decide in less than three seconds whether or not to read the manuscript they’ve just picked up, and their decision will be based, first and foremost, on how the words are laid out on the page.

Q: Why are they so hung up on format?

A: Three reasons: First, readability; second, computer display capabilities; and third, something much more devious.

About readability: Editors and agents read lots of stuff. Their eyes get tired, their minds are easily distracted, and they become annoyed if they have to adjust, not only to the unique content of the manuscript, but to a different formatting style. They want to be able to see your writing in a form they’re used to so their minds can focus on the brilliance of the writing.

About computer display capabilities: Not all computers are created equal. Some won’t display certain fonts (Have you ever tried to open an e-mail message and seen lines of little rectangular boxes in place of the characters? That means the message has been printed in a font your computer doesn’t display.) Your manuscript may look nice and neat on your computer screen the way you’ve formatted it, but on the editor’s screen it might be all over the place. If you format your work according to the guidelines laid out by the editor you’re presenting it to, those problems won’t occur.

About the devious reason: Editors and agents are interested in your baby but they’re also interested in its Mommy. They don’t like to work with mothers who can’t take advice or who think their child is perfect and needs no formatting, or who aren’t smart enough to follow simple instructions. The care with which you format your manuscript tells them something about you that they need to know.

Q: You’ve convinced me. So how do I format my manuscript properly?

A: Every publishing house or agency has its own manuscript submission guidelines, and these include formatting information. You can usually find submission guidelines on the internet. Since most publishing houses are more interested in marketing books they’ve already published than looking for new manuscripts, information for prospective writers is not so easy to find. You will have to do a bit of research to get to sites that give you this information. A quick way to find what you’re looking for is to type into the Google search box the name of the publishing house or agency you are interested in along with the words “manuscript subscription guidelines.” That should lead you to the information you need.

( A “heads up” here: Be prepared to hit a brick wall if you do this with major publishers. Most of the big ones are not accepting “cold call” submissions or proposals. Don’t be discouraged, but listen to their advice about how to approach them appropriately and follow through. It’s not easy to get published, but it’s possible, if you are tenacious and are willing to follow the rules, and if some major miracle happens along the way!)

Q: Are there general formatting guidelines I can follow while I’m writing, before I know who I’m going to submit to?

A: I’m glad you asked that question. I’ve just found a gold nugget of formatting information—a clear, complete, simply written article about manuscript formatting that any dum dum can understand. It tells you exactly where to put your cursor (that pointy arrow that moves over your screen when you move your mouse) and what to click it on, step by step, to do proper formatting. These guidelines are for manuscript submissions to the Genesis contest, a contest sponsored by the American Christian Fiction Writers Association, but they are an excellent guide to general formatting for any submission and, more importantly, the article explains HOW TO DO formatting in general--how to make formatting changes on your computer. You will find the article at this web address:

http://www.acfw.com/genesis/formatting.shtml

Q: Okay. I’ll look it up when I’m far enough along with my writing to worry about it.

A: DON’T WAIT!!!! This information may disappear after March 31st when the Genesis contest deadline is past. I printed the article and put it in my writing file. Believe me, it’s worth the paper you will print it on.

It’s true that you don’t need to worry about formatting until you’re farther along in your writing. Thanks to modern computer technology, you can format at any point in the writing process. In fact, the best time to do the final adjustment is just before you send it away to someone important. But these general guidelines will be good for you to follow as you write. Doing so will help you get used to the process and the feel of what professional writing looks like on paper.

So go for it. Format away. And please come back next time when I will give you a small handful of other informational nuggets that will make you feel super savvy and “in the know” about writing.

Writing Techniques for Dum Dum's

2009-03-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

I've decided to write a series of posts on this blog giving basic writing tips and techniques. I learned so many things by guess and by golly as I began my writing "career." It was kind of fun--like discovering Piltdown man on an archeological dig, or a ten dollar bill in the bottom of an old coat pocket. But many of those discoveries would have helped me even more if I'd made them sooner.

My latest discovery is that other writers, both beginners and those who have been at it for a while, haven't yet learned some of the things I know, even as a relative amateur. So I've decided to share what I've learned.

I'm going to call this blog series "Writing Techniques for Dum Dum's." If you notice that title sounds a little like a famous series of instructional books that have made millions of dollars for the publication industry, you're pretty clever and you probably don't need these blog posts. I decided to use the term "Dum Dum" for myself and my readers so that if the "Dummies" authors stumble onto my blog they won't sue me for stealing their title.

"Dum Dum" was the obvious alternate choice for obvious reasons. I'm talking about me, here, not you. I'm not stupid, but for some strange reason I have an awful time figuring out how to do things or how things work. So I appreciate it when I run across something that explains what I need to know in words any nitwit could understand. I'll try to do that kind of explaining in my posts. It should be pretty easy, since that's the only kind of explaining that makes sense to me.

I'm also pretty sure that other writers who read my blog have their own cache of neat tricks and shortcuts that I haven't yet discovered. I hope, if you're one of them, that you will comment on the posts and share what you've learned with the rest of us as well. So what if it's a case of the blind leading the blind. If enough of us clump together we're bound to find our way to someplace worthwhile in our writing, aren't we? Or is that a dumb thing to say?

So please follow this blog, and chime in with material for the posts whenever you can. I'd love to hear from all of you.

Thanks, Virginia, for another Mayla Strong Adventure

2009-02-28T18:29:00.000-08:00

Virginia,

Thanks for the second novel in your Mayla series, Sincerely, Mayla. I finished reading it today and I loved it. Great story. It's incredible to me how God, through your imaginative mind, can weave a story together so well with all the lessons He wants to teach in it. And you did it without preaching!

Of course you have an advantage. You have a saucy, adorable character who is not afraid of being preachy! I love how she not only preaches to everyone else, but to herself as well, and to me.

The biggest boost to my spiritual life from this book was the example you gave near the end of her two prayers. The first one was an example of how I pray all too often, where she just listed her problems and told God she needed help.

Then you led us, step-by-step, through an example of the right kind of prayer. We see her actually throwing her cares, one by on, on God. And because her focus is on Him, she can read His mind as she prays so she can pray His desires for the people she cares about.

I know about all that, but it was so helpful to see a concrete example of what it looks like to do it.

So often my prayers are nothing more than worrying before God. My mind is so focused on my worries that I don't even see Him. He might as well be a bedpost. I need to constantly remember the difference you've illustrated.

Thank you so much for giving yourself to God and letting Him use your life experiences and creative writer's mind to teach us how to walk more closely with Him.

Bless you!

Ginny

P.S. Readers can check out Virginia's work at her website:
http://www.virginiasmith.org/

The Kindle Debate

2009-02-25T09:29:00.000-08:00

Debate has recently been kindled over the latest reader/writer technological innovation, Kindle Books. Making books available in e-form, readable from hand held devices and computers without the restrictions of hard copy, is an exciting new opportunity--an opportunity for market expansion, which should benefit both readers and authors, and also an opportunity for exploitation of both groups.

If you'd like to read up on the current debate, just google "kindle swindle". There's lots out there.

You might want to begin with Roy Blount, Jr.'s Op-Ed article in today's New York Times. It's a well-reasoned, well-written treatise on one aspect of the Kindle controversy--the audio book function. Roy Blount, Jr. is president of the Author's Guild.

Roy Blount's article can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/opinion/25blount.html?ref=opinion

The Author's Guild website is: ttp://www.authorsguild.org/news/member_websites/a.html

Comments, anyone?

The Point of the Book

2009-02-24T08:29:00.000-08:00

I've recently discovered Mark Buchanan, Canadian pastor and author of a number of helpful books on living the Christian life. I'm currently reading The Rest of God, Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath, and I'm being blessed in the reading.

As a writer, I was tickled by the author's imaginative letter from the editor in response to Solomon's submission of his book, The Proverbs, for publication. I'm trying not to gloat over the implication that editors don't always recognize a best seller when they see it. It's tempting to gloat, since I haven't yet found an editor who appreciates the great writing and marketing potential of my novel manuscript.

Enjoy:

Dear Sol:

Thanks for the opportunity to glance over your recent submission. We loved your dad's book and continue to be humbled and amazed by how many people it's blessed.

About your book: there's some great stuff here--some real gems of insight (my four-year-old loved the one about a dog's vomit, though I'm not sure something like that would make the final cut). I also appreciate your ability to cover a wide range of topics with brevity. You explore everything from domestic squabbles to international politics to corporate strategy, and so succinctly (though, I admit, here and there a tad cryptically).

But I need to be frank with you, Sol: this is an editorial nightmare. It is all over the place. One minute you're talking about nattering wives, the next about kings' hearts, and then suddenly you're on about table manners, lazy people, poor men, whatever. You repeat yourself in many places, contradict yourself in others. I'm intrigued but confused. I wish you would take one theme per chapter and develop it fully.

I'm not saying no. But I am asking this: sum up the whole book in one clear sentence--I'm talking thesis statement here, Sol, just as in your college days. If we can nail that, I think we can build the book from there.

Say hi to the wives and concubines and kids. And congratulations on your recent marriages last month.

Kindest regards,
Friendly Publisher

P.S. I should have mentioned, the title "The Proverbs" strikes me as a bit pedestrian. I'm thinking something catchier, like "Zingers: One-Liners to Delight Your Friends and Humiliate Your Enemies." What do you think?

Sol’s imagined response:

Dear Friendly Publisher,

I’ve thought about your critique and request, and though I think you’ve missed the point of my book’s (dis)organization (hint: it mimics life), I at least want to give you the “one clear” sentence that sums up the entire work. I simply lifted this straight out of my book. Here it is:

“The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception." [Proverbs 14:8]

Hope that helps.

Shalom,
Solomon

P.S. I prefer the original title.

Check out this YouTube link for a face-to-face introduction to Mark Buchanan. He's talking about his latest book, Hidden in Plain Sight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmRf5zzM4qE

May God bless your inspired words, and may He open the eyes of your editors to their glorious potential!

Book Review: Just As I Am

2008-12-27T14:09:00.000-08:00

I've just finished reading Virginia Smith's book, Just As I Am. It's brilliant, funny, tender, saucy, heart-rending, heart-warming and full of surprises.

The first surprise is Mayla.

Mayla Strong is the last person you’d expect to get dunked by the handsome young preacher into the baptismal font. She even surprises herself, but somewhere on the way down the aisle to the front of the church she finds Jesus, or maybe He finds her, and she goes under without a thought about how her purple hair will affect the water or how the water will affect her multiple body piercings.

Her baptism is the first in a series of delightfully unexpected happenings—in her life, in the life of the small country church that cautiously receives her into the fold, and in the lives of her non-Christian friends, who stare, dumbfounded, until they begin to see the results of her “screwball” decision and decide it might not be such a bad thing after all.

Just As I Am is a beautiful picture of how God loves us, redeems us, uses us and delights in us, just as we are. It’s a picture of how He changes us, yet leaves our unique personalities intact, for His own personal enjoyment and for the benefit of others whom He loves and longs to bring into His arms as well.

Cautions on the Use of Deep POV

2008-11-05T12:29:00.000-08:00

Deep POV, or writing from behind your POV character’s eyes and from within their body, as well as from their mind (see previous post), is a great writing technique, but like any other device, it should be used judiciously and in balance.* The caution against “too much of a good thing” applies in writing as well as in life. Overuse of any single writing device becomes “unnecessary repetition” every bit as much as overuse of a particular word or phrase in a passage. Your reader wants variety—in types of characters, in actions, in words, in sentence structure, and in perspective, or POV.

Sometimes, in longer works, you will satisfy that desire for variety in POV by switching (properly) from one character’s point of view to another’s. But if you write predominantly from one character’s POV, you will also need to provide a variety of visual and mental spaces between the reader and your character. A novel full of uninterrupted deep POV from the perspective of one character can become either extremely boring or extremely exhausting, or both.

Have you ever gone through a time in your life of intense, uninterrupted navel-gazing? Maybe it’s just my temperament, but I have a tendency to do that. The result is a mental form of cabin fever. My world shrinks to the confines of my skull and I get depressed, or extremely bored, and I go stir crazy. Dragging your reader through a novel full of deep POV will do the same thing to them.

At the beginning of your novel, when you want your protagonist to capture the heart of your reader, you will use deep POV a lot. This stage of the story is like the honeymoon. Your protagonist and your reader need to become intimately acquainted and intensely connected long enough to forge a love affair that will last beyond the pages of the book. So here deep POV is most effective.

But honeymoons don’t last. At some point the lovers have to come up for air and begin to relate to “the real world” (in this case, the world of your story). There will be a moving away from each other, at least for periods of time, so they can breathe and integrate the new relationship into the rest of their lives. The intimacy is still there. It’s been well established. But their connectedness with each other becomes an almost unconscious backdrop to the unfolding of their common story.

So as your story moves along, you may find yourself using deep POV less extensively, and in certain situations you will avoid it altogether. Even that big no-no, “telling,” is appropriate in places. When you bring your character and reader out of an intense situation, when you prepare to move them from one scene to another, when you want to give your reader a broader perspective, or when you want to vary the pace or intensity of the action—for whatever reason, there will be times when you want to pull back from the inside of your POV, in varying degrees.
So the key is, again, that great old cliché, “moderation in everything.” We don’t want to become so excited about a great writing technique that we inflict it on our readers too often.

That’s true of all our creative endeavors, actually. They should not be “manipulations”—deliberate twists and constructs of the material. The best way to create great art is to study great technique until it becomes an instinctive part of our creative process. Then we can create, without focusing on the technique, and trust the training to affect the creation positively and naturally.

And guiding all our deliberations about form and style should be that instinctive, story-teller’s sense of pace and process that drives the story, that makes the telling unselfconscious. That’s what will connect with the reader. That’s what will make for great writing.

*I'm using "they" and "them" in place of "his/her" in this text. A university English prof told me this is becoming a common way to avoid the awkwardness of using the gender-inclusive pronouns.

Deep Point of View

2008-10-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

The other day I had a great visit with Meredith Efken, http://www.fictionfixitshop.com/, an editor recommended to me by Randy Ingermannson, http://www.ingermanson.com/ . I'll share an insight she gave me if you'll promise to check out her website (and her books--hilariously funny fiction!) so that this "free" advice I'm passing on to you from her will at least give her some publicity.

We were talking about POV. She says that though, technically, I do my main character's POV correctly, I'm still not taking my readers close enough to the inside of him for them to feel connected. It had never occurred to me that doing the POV from his mind wasn't enough. She said, in so many words, that I also need to put myself behind his EYES--to see the scene from his perspective. She pointed out that I'm describing what he sees, but from a distance. I'm looking at him in my mind as I write from his POV instead of looking at what he's looking at.

It’s a subtle distinction, but an important one. A slight shift in my position—from Zinovy’s mind to his eyes—will bring the reader more immediately into the story.

Here’s an example, I can say, “Zinovy walked across the field, staring into the distance, pondering his problem.” or I can say, “Zinovy kicked the pebbles away from the side of the trail and looked up to the glowing horizon in the distance, pondering his problem.” The movement of my perspective from the distance to right behind Zinovy’s eyes automatically forces me to be more descriptive and it puts the reader into the scene instead of just in Zinovy’s head.

Meredith also pointed out that every time I use words like “he thought,” “pondered,” “believed,” in reference to my POV character I am again distancing the readers from Zinovy. I’m putting them just one step farther away. I am “telling” what is going on in his mind. If I leave those words out, I allow the reader instant access to his thoughts. So instead of saying, in the above scene, “. . .pondering his problem,” I could simply state the thought, as if I am quoting inner dialogue: “Zinovy kicked the pebbles away from the side of the trail and looked up to the glowing horizon in the distance. How to solve the problem?”

Speaking of inner dialogue, I hear rumors that some editors don’t like it. (Yes, Andy Meisenheimer, I acknowledge that you claim you have no idea where that urban myth about you started.) The problem seems to be that the italics required become too much of a distraction and make the dialogue too hard to read after a while. But the situation is easy to fix. All you have to do is take the statements out of italics and change the tense. For example, instead of, What do I do now? you might say, “What should he do now?”

Meredith’s advice was so helpful. I'm going to have to go through my scenes again, disciplining myself to "see" things through Zinovy’s eyes instead of mine, and not just "tell" things from his thoughts.

If any of you are having the same problem, I hope this helps. I heartily recommend Meredith if you need some manuscript tweaking. She has a full editorial service and she's good!

Deep point of view is not a new idea. The internet is full of helpful references. Just type the phrase into a search engine to find them. One of the best is an article by Camy Tang. Check it out, for sure: www.storysensei.blogspot.com/2005/11/deep-point-of-view.html

Stranger Than Fiction

2008-09-25T18:23:00.000-07:00

My trip home from the ACFW conference was an eleven-hour “planes, trains and automobiles” affair. I flew from Minneapolis to Seattle, took a shuttle from Seattle to downtown Vancouver, and then rode two city buses to get to my front door. It was a good trip. Gave me time to debrief my conference experience and make plans for the next “final” revisions. Gave me time to pray about publication perplexities. I wasn’t disappointed that I hadn’t found a publisher. I’d been through the process before and knew what not to expect. But it had been a long writing journey and the conference had seemed like the last opportunity for publication. I was out of options. Angie Hunt’s exhortation to walk obediently, day by day, trusting God with our dreams, was a comfort.

I arrived in Vancouver, midnight-tired at 10:00, and boarded the first of my two city buses. It was crowded. I dropped into one of the few available seats, behind the driver and across from a lively little man—one of “God’s odds.” He grinned at me.

“What’s the suitcase for? Goin’ away somewhere?”

“No, I’ve been. I’m heading home.”

“Where’d ya go?”

“To a conference.”

“What kind of conference?”

“A writing conference.”

“Oh. You’re a writer, are ya? What’d ya do at the conference, write?”

“No, I went to workshops and talked with editors to see if they wanted to buy my book.”

“Did any of them want it?”

“No. No one wanted it.”

“Why didn’t they want it? Not good enough?”

I was sure our fellow passengers were thinking, like I was, that this was too much information, but I didn’t know how to stop the flow without being deliberately rude.

“No, it’s good enough. They just didn’t want it.”

The dialogue continued, covering such diverse topics as: My husband: “Why would he let you go off by yourself?” My blue jeans: “Everyone can wear blue jeans. Old people. Young people. Doesn’t matter.” My kids: “Why does your son live so far away? Don’t ya get along?”

I finally reached my stop, said a fond farewell to my new friend and thanked the driver, who grinned up at me as I left. The second bus was not crowded, but for some reason I ignored the larger empty spaces and sat down next to a young woman.

“You did a good job talking to that man,” she said. I hadn’t seen her get off the other bus. “I was interested in your conversation about writing. I’m a writer too.”

We traded pitches. After hearing mine she said, “I’ve got a friend who’s a publisher. I think he might be interested in what you’ve got. He publishes books with spiritual themes. I’ll introduce you to him if you like.”

Later that night I sat at my computer, checking my e-mail. Her midnight posting, giving me her publisher’s web address, was at the top of the list. I looked at his offerings. Several fantasies—not too dark. An historical or two. And another book about a gay man who “stops at nothing to find a perfect love, and hope for a perfect peace.” I’d love to tap into this market audience.

I have a strong suspicion this publisher won’t want me either, but it’s the thought that counts. God’s thought. I see his hand so clearly in the serendipity of my bus encounters. He’s showing me that he can pluck a publisher out of a hat in my backyard if he wants to. He’s reminding me that a loving God is at work in our world. His purposes will be fulfilled, through the small, everyday occurrences of our lives. I’m warmed by the thought, and delighted by the unexpected reminder, on my way home, that God’s ways can sometimes be stranger than fiction.

Something About the Writer

2008-08-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

GINNY JAQUES is living proof that writers are ordinary people. She is an ordinary wife, mother, grandmother, high school teacher, lover of Words, lover of Truth, lover of God, and lover of His children.

She’s recently finished writing a novel that has been polished to within an inch of its life and is now looking for its publisher. She has contributed articles to her local community newspaper, The North Shore News, and British Columbia Teacher Magazine. She has edited community and church newsletters, written pithy letters to the editor and hilariously funny family Christmas letters that usually get mailed in March. She has also composed poems dedicated to each of her three darling granddaughters.

Ginny hates writing. It’s hard work and usually keeps her up too late at night. But something inside her says it has to be done, so she does it, muttering and complaining most of the time. Now and then she loses herself in a story and surfaces hours later with no sense that time has passed. Those times are kind of fun.