The Blank Page

Odds and Ends

2010-10-07T11:08:00.003-04:00

• Mario Vargas Llosa wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.

• The theft of Jonathan Franzen's glasses (off his face!) leads to a Fugitive-style chase...

• ....And the culprit's got some explaining to do.

• New York's Public Theater is staging an unconventional production of The Great Gatsby.

• Paul Auster is coming to a PSP near you.

• The Guardian profiles Lauren Child, creator of Charlie and Lola, and one of my favorite picture book authors.

• Here's an interesting angle, I guess: The Top 10 Writers on the Telephone.

Signing in the Waldenbooks

2010-10-05T11:30:00.007-04:00

Today's going to be a great writing day, I can feel it--provided I can keep my face out of that pot of pumpkin butter I've got simmering on the stove. It will be a challenge.

For all of you aspiring writers who wonder what it's like to go out on your first book tour, I have a treat for you. This summer, my good friend Pat sent me a link to this video made by mystery writer Parnell Hall about his first book tour and it is an absolute riot. Mr. Hall nails the experience--I felt like I was reliving the torture of my book tour....especially the line about John Grisham (which you will understand fully if you visit both links in the post). For those of you who missed my post about my own tour, you can experience all the glory here.

It's so nice to be able to laugh about it now...If you'll excuse me, I need some pumpkin butter.

I'm Back (Sort of)

2010-10-04T14:37:00.003-04:00

My twin daughters have just started full-time kindergarten which means that finally, finally, I have time to write again. And it feels great. I've just crossed the 100-page threshold of my new novel which is a milestone for me, although it is only a first draft and there are still many pages to go. So far, I'm loving my characters. The plot is still eluding me at this point, but with every session I feel it getting closer.

So I'm back at the blog, but probably in a more limited way than before. Even though I have a lot of hours to myself now, I have no trouble filling the time. I'm more inclined these days to work on the novel rather than the blog, so my posts will be shorter than they used to be. Instead of writing essays about the creative process, my posts will be more in the realm of updates about my writing and showing you things that inspire me.

Speaking of inspiration, did you catch Kanye West on Saturday Night Live this weekend? Say what you will about his behavior, Kanye knows how to make his performances visually exciting. He continues to try new things--sometimes they work and sometimes they don't, but he keeps trying nonetheless....the mark of a true artist.

I found Saturday night's performance utterly riveting. See if you agree with me.

Creative Habits

2010-05-27T18:28:00.004-04:00

Wow...has it really been over four months since my last post? I've been spending the time chugging away at my new novel, which has been taking me on an interesting journey. If I have any blog readers left, I thought maybe they would enjoy this article about creativity over at Zen Habits, which I would have loved to have written myself, if only I'd had the time.

Conan's Farewell

2010-01-25T13:16:00.003-05:00

I'm back...kind of. Two things have been keeping me away from the blog--time and not having much to say. The little time I've had for writing these days I've dedicated to working on my new novel. When I started this blog, I had envisioned it as a place to chronicle my experiences in the writing business, but not much business has been happening while I've been raising my twin daughters. In the fall, they will start school full-time and I hope to get back into the game. In the meantime, I'll post here and there when the mood strikes...

...And something did strike me last week as I was watching Conan O'Brien's last appearance as host of THE TONIGHT SHOW. As many of you know, NBC's handling of the late night show situation was deplorable, and yet Conan's farewell speech was classy and gracious. If you haven't seen it, take a moment to check it out. Conan's speech is a perfect lesson in professionalism.

MWPA Online Book Sale

2009-11-05T14:27:00.002-05:00

Get your holiday shopping done early!

This year, the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance is hosting their annual Holiday Book Sale online in conjunction with the USM Bookstore. Forty Maine authors are featured, including yours truly, representing a broad selection of children and adult books. Each book purchased will be personalized by the author and shipped to your door in time for the holidays.

The sale runs from now until November 30th.

Don't Take His Word For It

2009-11-04T13:04:00.002-05:00

The other day I was editing a scene I had written when I came across a mistake that seemed to have slipped by me a few times. The problem lies in the point of view, which is told in close third person through the eyes of the main character, Ovid. See if you can spot the error:

Ovid’s voice, as he so marvelously discovered after the fact, bounced cleanly in the ceramic box and reverberated the steel in the piercing manner of a tuning fork. The ring momentarily broke the rhythm of the kitchen as all the cooks stopped their work to look up at him. Behind Ovid, the back door clacked against its frame. Curiosity seemed have bested the dishwasher, who was now standing in the doorway, his lips sticky with mango juice.

Did you catch it? If you said “sticky” was the problem, give yourself a big pat on the back. For those of you who aren’t sure why this is a problem, picture yourself in Ovid’s shoes for a minute. The dishwasher walks in with mango juice on his lips. Short of kissing him, how is it that Ovid knows his lips are sticky? Sure, we know from our own mango-eating experiences that mango juice can be sticky, but saying so is making an assumption. Ovid cannot know the dishwasher’s lips are sticky because the word sticky denotes a sense of touch. All Ovid can do is look, so I changed sticky to shiny. Problem solved.

Point of view errors are among the easiest mistakes to make in fiction. Why? As an author, you can easily slip in and out of the heads of all the characters, forgetting that your characters cannot do so with each other (unless, of course, you’re writing sci-fi). Sometimes, the errors are sensory in nature, but more often, they involve thoughts. For example, in an earlier scene, Ovid is crossing a dark parking lot behind the restaurant, trying not to be noticed, when he is spotted by the dishwasher who is taking a break by the back door. How does Ovid know the boy has spotted him? Because he cranes his neck and is looking in the old man’s direction. If you’re not careful, it would be easy to write the following sentence:

The boy recognized Ovid or at least knew about the car. He obviously realized something suspicious was going on.

The above sentence would work fine if I had an omniscient narrator. However, since this is in close third, the lines are a problem because they contain assumptions stated as fact. To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with one character guessing what another character is thinking, just be sure to let the reader know that what is being stated is an assumption, not fact. Our perceptions color everything we see, so the character’s conclusions may or may not be correct. Here is a better way to write the above example:

The boy must have recognized Ovid or at the very least knew about the car—knew enough, it seemed, to realize something suspicious was going on.

By using phrases such as “must have” and “it seemed”, we are notifying the reader that the following is merely the character’s perception and must be taken with a grain of salt.

One could say that such distinctions are picky and would largely go unnoticed by the reader, but I would argue that it is precisely these distinctions and careful attention to detail that elevate a work of fiction.

Inspiration of the Moment: Andrew Bird

2009-10-28T14:05:00.005-04:00

Saturday night, I had the pleasure of catching the St. Vincent/Andrew Bird concert in Portland. Both performances were fantastic. I’ve been to upwards of a hundred shows in my day, and never have I seen an audience so completely entranced. For three hours, it seemed as though no one hardly moved or breathed or even blinked.

Part of what made Andrew Bird’s set so special was that he was performing solo. With just a violin (and occasionally some guitar) he recorded a series of loops live, on stage, and used a bank of foot pedals to trigger the loops as needed. Layer by layer, he built each song right in front of the audience—perhaps some percussive plucks to start, a few mandolin-like strums over that, then a gorgeous melodic line repeated in two, then three-part harmony. On top of this, he played guitar, whistled, and sang. Spinning behind him was a custom, double-belled-gramophone-shaped Leslie speaker.

There is a nerve-wracking element to creating live loops. Right away, I started thinking, “What if he doesn’t time it right? What’s he going to do?” I found out soon enough. He recorded a loop that ended up being a little too laid back for the song and then just simply stopped, explained the problem, and tried again. There were a few more times throughout the show where he had to re-start--and you know what? It didn’t matter one bit—not to him, not to us. This wasn’t about his ego; this was about making gorgeous music. This is the mark of a true artist. He embodied his art so completely, I started to wonder if he would be able to exist without it.

For those of you who live in Maine, you can catch Andrew Bird and St. Vincent on AUSTIN CITY LIMITS on MPBN, October 28th at 10:00pm. For the rest of you, check out this performance from last year at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis.

The Time Traveler's Strife

2009-10-22T14:02:00.003-04:00

I want to love ABC’s new drama, FLASHFORWARD. I really do. First, there’s the great cast (Joseph Fiennes! Sonya Walger! The guy from HAROLD & KUMAR! among many others). The premise is irresistible: everyone in the world blacks out for 2 minutes and seventeen seconds. During the blackout, as you can imagine, all kinds of catastrophes take place (plane and car crashes, fires, a large number of people die just falling and hitting their heads) and there are enough explosions and general chaos to make Michael Bay proud. As the story progresses, we learn that during the blackouts, everyone gets a glimpse of their future, six months from now. For some, the glimpse is as mundane as reading the newspaper on the toilet, while for others, it’s earth-shattering: a woman leaves her husband, a sober cop falls off the wagon, a man who sees nothing grapples with the possibility that he will soon be dead.

Cool, right?

The hope here is that FLASHFORWARD will be the next LOST, but I’m having my doubts. Because I’m an intensely curious person and I want to know who is behind the blackouts and why, I keep watching. I’m hanging in there even though much of the dialogue seems lifted from an action movie, even though I feel bad for the actors, who seem so much smarter than the stories they’ve been handed, and despite the fact that the show is constantly three steps behind its audience, when it should be three steps ahead. This story is ripe for a heavy exploration of predeterminism vs. free will, but so far the characters are just moping about, resigned to their various fates.

Writing about the manipulation of time is always dangerous territory. Unlike writing about, say, vampires, who may or may not be allergic to garlic or sunlight or silver, depending on who you ask—we all have a pretty solid opinion on how time works. The writer who chooses to explore time travel must be ruthless in his authority and meticulous in his construction. No matter what his particular theories are about time, the writer must be certain the story adheres to its own internal logic. He must be on constant lookout for anachronisms and inconsistencies. Even a small slip-up and the audience will be unable to suspend their disbelief.

One of the difficulties FLASHFORWARD has is that the story takes place in a framework of an otherwise normal world. The characters inhabit a world like ours, in present day, with lives just like ours. Except for the blackouts, these characters adhere to rules and logic not unlike our own. This makes any sort of reach into the fantastical a bit harder to swallow. When we put ourselves in the characters’ shoes, we have less tolerance for their inaction. The world they are in we know well—and we also know what they need to do about it.

LOST, on the other hand, beautifully side-steps these problems because it takes place in a world that below the surface resembles nothing of ours: smoke monsters, moving islands, immortal characters—just for starters. The world of LOST is so fully imagined that once you throw a little time travel and precognition into the mix, no one hardly notices. We’ve already bought into that fantastical world and are ready to accept whatever the writers give us.

I’m hoping that FLASHFORWARD will eventually take its cue from LOST and start creating its own world. Something that leads us to believe this is a well-thought out story and not a hapless rip-off. There are a few hints that the show might take that direction—misplaced wild animals, hidden codes, people immune to the blackouts, etc. So, for the time being, my curiosity has the best of me. That, plus it's a lot of fun to yell at the TV.

Now, if only they could do something about that overwrought dialogue…

That Old Fiction Magic

2009-09-25T10:27:00.004-04:00

Now that the kids are back in school, I’m hoping to get back into the blogging groove. Friday, I was called for jury duty which, along with instilling me with a feeling of civic pride, gave me time to delve into THAT OLD CAPE MAGIC, the latest novel by Richard Russo.

For those of you who don’t know, Russo was one of my writing professors at Colby (along with Jennifer Finney Boylan). Both taught me everything I know about writing. Russo brought a sense of humility and respect to the classroom, taught us never to be genre snobs, and always found something genuinely kind to say about everyone’s work. Later, when I was trying to sell my manuscript for THE GREATEST MAN IN CEDAR HOLE, Russo took the time to help me with the process, even though by then he had already won the Pulitzer Prize for EMPIRE FALLS everyone and their uncle wanted a piece of him.

One of the things I’ve loved most about Russo’s novels, and have tried my best to emulate in my own writing, is his good, old-fashioned storytelling. His works are epic and cozy at the same time. When you crack open one of his books, you can almost feel him sitting beside you, saying, “Hey, listen. I’ve got this great story to tell you…” Russo fans know what I’m talking about, but for the uninitiated, I recommend starting with THE RISK POOL, NOBODY’S FOOL, or EMPIRE FALLS.

THAT OLD CAPE MAGIC seems promising so far, too, with Russo’s humor in top form.

I’m happy to say that as far as my new novel goes, it’s finally starting to take off. How do I know? I was in the middle of writing a scene the other day—a scene that was about to end with my main character making a specific choice—and out of the blue, my character did the complete opposite of what I wanted him to do! Cheeky bugger! His action was so strong and so surprising to me that I had no choice but to follow. What grew out of his choice was something suspenseful and funny, something I don’t think I would have come up with on my own. It’s moments like these that make the writing process so fun. It makes me feel like I’m the Blue Fairy and my character is Pinocchio—he now has a life of his own. I can’t wait to see where he takes me.

Three Looks at the Publishing Business

2009-08-12T15:54:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of speaking at Bowdoin College to a group of teenagers who are participating in the Upward Bound program this summer. I have to say I these young people really impressed me—they were so much more savvy than I ever was at their age. Most seemed interested in the writing aspect of the publishing business, but I gave them a very quick overview of different career options within the industry. And then I thought, “Gee this might make a good post.” So if you know you’d like to be involved in publishing but you don’t know exactly what you’d like to do, this post is for you.

Even if you do know what you want to do, read it anway. Nothing wrong with a little refresher.

This is a very simplistic breakdown of the three major career options available to you in book publishing. It by no means encompasses all the options, but it gives you a good breakdown of the general categories and what they entail.

Writer/Author

Pros: You are the reason this industry exists. As a writer, you have the freedom to create a story or a work of nonfiction on any topic you choose, in any style you choose. The work is deeply satisfying and can give you the freedom to live the kind of lifestyle you want. You are self-employed and can live anywhere. There are no start-up costs for your business, only a pen and paper. There is no limit to the amount of money you can make. You can be famous, yet move about with anonymity. A good portion of your job involves travel and meeting interesting people. You get to experience the great thrill of seeing your words in print or your story come alive on the big screen.

Cons: Your success is not solely dependent on how hard you work—a lot of it has to do with luck and timing. Writing is hard, lonely work without any guarantees. Publishing is a slow business and it can take a long time to be paid and to see your book in print. While some writers make enough to sustain themselves, most do not make enough to live solely on their writing income, which makes another job necessary. Those who do support themselves have to grapple with the high cost of health insurance. Most writers do not become famous or receive much recognition. A good portion of your job involves travel, but usually not to glamorous destinations.

Agent

Pros: If you want to get rich, an agent is what you want to be. You have the satisfaction of discovering new talent and managing your clients throughout their careers. You work with authors and editors. Socializing is a big part of your job—you’re on the phone most of the day and have lots of lunch meetings. Invitations to all kinds of parties and events allow you to rub elbows with famous people. You will most likely have to travel a few times a year to the big book fairs, like Frankfurt, and to some writers’ conferences, like Maui, if you so choose.

Cons: Odds are, if you really want to be successful, you’ll have to live in New York (or at least live within commutable distance in Connecticut or New Jersey). Agents work long hours and have a never-ending flood of manuscripts to look at. Their clients can be eccentric and demanding, and often require a lot of hand-holding and ego-stroking. You have to have a fair grasp of legal matters and accounting, and should a disagreement happen between the author and the editor, you will have to play mediator. It can take a long time to build the necessary contacts and client list needed to be a successful agent. If you work for an agency, the company takes a portion of all your commissions.

Editor

(There are many kinds of editors—this is your run-of-the-mill book editor.)

Pros: As an editor, you get to play literary Indiana Jones, looking for The Holy Grail of books. You meet with agents regularly and sift through piles and piles (and piles) of ho-hum manuscripts until you find that one jewel that excites you so much, you just know it’s going to be The Next Big Thing. You find great satisfaction in discovering new talent and using your creativity to bring out the best in an author. As an editor, your work has a nice mix of quiet time and socializing. There are many opportunities for parties and lunches, and travel is a big component of your job. A good editor will travel often and have many opportunities to meet famous people. If you do your job well, the climb up the corporate ladder can be relatively quick.

Cons: Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. Your life is one big deadline. You work long hours and rarely take vacations. The pay can be low, at least to start. It can take a long time to prove your worth as an editor, i.e. bring in a bestselling or well-respected book. The job requires you to be exceedingly well-rounded; social yet disciplined, literary yet extroverted, creative yet practical. You must learn how to get your points across to sensitive authors without stepping on their toes. In addition to working with authors, you have to coordinate deadlines across many departments in-house (sales, marketing, design, etc), which means that many variables are out of your control, yet still your responsibility. If anything goes wrong, you will bear the brunt of the author’s anger. Nearly all the big houses are located in New York.

Other Options

If you decide to explore the editorial side of publishing, you’ll quickly discover that there are many opportunities: sales, publicity, book design, copy writing and fact checking, just to name a few.

The Multi-Book Deal: Is It Worth It?

2009-07-15T14:20:00.002-04:00

Just imagine: an editor is so in love with your work that he wants to not only buy your manuscript, but he wants your next book, too. And it hasn’t even been written yet. Ahhhh….this is the stuff that aspiring writers dream of –the multi-book deal. But are these deals all they’re cracked up to be? I’m not sure first-time authors understand all that they’re getting into with these deals, for better or worse. Here are some things to consider before you sign on the dotted line.

Money, Money, Money

One of the best things about multi-book deals is that you get a higher advance than if you sold just one book, right? Well, sort of. Publishers sometimes use the multi-book deal to buy two books at a discount. For example, if you sold only one book, they might pay $10,000, but instead they offer $15,000 for two. That’s only $7,500 each.

One way to look at this is to say that if you take the multi-book contract you are guaranteed $15,000—which is $5,000 above the hypothetical single book offer. If your first book ends up tanking, this might not be a bad deal. It might be hard finding a publisher who will pay you $5,000 the second time around.

On the other hand, what happens if your first book becomes a runaway bestseller? In the case of the multi-book contract, you’d be on the losing end of the deal, to some extent. If you had signed a one-book contract and the book made millions, you’d be virtually guaranteed a huge advance for your second book. Alas, if you signed the two-book deal, your advance would remain the previously agreed-upon $7,500 and the terms would remain at the newbie author level, instead of reflecting your status as a bestseller. You can take some comfort, however, in knowing that you’ll be rolling in royalties.

Creative Accounting

Multi-book contracts are accounted for a little differently than one-book contracts. This can occasionally work to your advantage, though often it doesn’t. The first way it works against you is in the payout. For those of you who are new to the world of advances, it’s important to know that publishers do not pay your advance in one lump sum. Instead, it is divided into installments. Here’s a typical payment schedule for a $10,000 advance:

$3,333 on signing of the contract (which is paid immediately)

$3,333 on delivery & acceptance of the complete manuscript (several months down the road)

$3,334 on publication of the book (maybe a year or two later)

Now here’s the payment schedule for the two-book contract described above, with an advance of $15,000:

$5,000 on signing of the contract

$2,500 on delivery & acceptance of the complete manuscript of book #1

$2,500 on publication of book #1

$2,500 on the delivery & acceptance of the complete manuscript of book #2

$2,500 on the publication of book #2

In this scenario, you’re getting slightly more on signing, but your payouts are smaller. Considering how long it takes to write and publish a book (let alone two), it could be several years before you see the final two payments.

Basketing

Another form of creative accounting in multi-book contracts has to do with royalties. Since the books were sold together, they are accounted for together, which is called basketing. This means that all earnings are bundled together and treated as one unit.

For example, let’s say that your first book does well and you earn $8,500 in sales on your statement. If this was a single-book contract with an advance of $7,500, you would earn out your advance and be paid the excess $1,000 in royalties. In a multi-book deal, however, that extra $1,000 gets applied to the $7,500 advance for book two, instead. You will have to earn out the remaining $6,500 on that advance before you see a dime in royalties. As you can see, if you have a contract for many books it will take you damn near forever before you start to see some royalties.

You’re On the Clock

Before entering into a multi-book deal, it’s important to carefully and realistically examine the delivery schedule of your manuscripts. The publisher will want a deadline commitment and you’ll want to be sure you’re not getting in over your head. Committing to a schedule is a great motivator for many of us creative types and can work very well if you already have a completed outline or first draft of your next book. But if you don’t know what your next book is going to be, proceed with caution. Negotiate for as much time as possible. Beware that if you are unable to deliver your manuscript as promised, you may be asked to return that portion of the advance. Usually, by the time this happens, the money is long gone.

Job Security: The Good News and the Bad News

One of the best aspects of a multi-book deal is that you have the security of knowing when your publishing home is for the next several books. You’ll develop solid relationships within the company and you’ll have a chance to prove yourself if your first book isn’t a hit right out of the starting gate.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is you might hate your publisher. You might discover early on that you don’t click with your editor, there is too much politics, promises aren’t kept, your promotion is nil. In this case, you’re stuck through the next several books.

So Is a Multi-Book Deal Worth It?

That depends on you. If you’re a first-time author it’s hard to say no to any offer that comes your way. If you’re dealing with a good, solid publisher, then by all means take the deal—being aware of the pitfalls. Well-seasoned authors have greater options and the benefits are more likely to outweigh the risks. Either way, it’s important to thoroughly understand any contract before you sign.

Understanding Your Royalty Statement—Part II

2009-06-24T13:53:00.002-04:00

As I mentioned before, royalty statements can be confusing to read, but it’s in your best interest to become familiar with them. In general, the larger the publishing house, the more confusing the statement. On the other hand, big publishing houses also give more information, which can be helpful. Because statements vary so much, you may or may not find some of the elements I’m about to discuss. Know that if you ever have any questions about your statement, your agent or editor will be happy to help you make sense of it.

Know Your Editions

Most books are published in several different forms, so you will often find separate listings for each edition of the book. For example, we’re all familiar with the hardcover and paperback editions. Did you know, however, that paperbacks are divided into two categories? There are the fancy, larger-sized, more literary-looking trade paperbacks and then there are the cheaper, drugstore variety mass market paperbacks. Most hardcover books become one or the other, unless you’re a mega-bestseller, in which case you might become both.

Other editions you might find on your statement are library editions, large-print, electronic, and audio books. Your publisher may or may not control the rights to these editions (look at your contract to know) so you may or not find them on your statement. If, for instance, your agent sold the audio rights to another company, you can expect to receive a separate statement from that company.

Check the Contract

When you receive your first royalty statement, it’s important to have your contract open and to compare the details with those on the statement. Is the pub date correct? Is the advance correct? Do they list the correct royalty payout (very important)? Is the retail price correct? If any of these numbers are off, it will affect your bottom line.

Units Vs. Earnings

Your sales are represented in two ways: units and earnings. Units are the number of books sold and earnings are your monetary share of those sales. For example, if you sell 100 books at $20 each and your royalty is 10% of sales, your earnings are $200 (100 x 20 x .10 = 200). Therefore, under the heading “Units” you’ll see 100 and under “Earnings” you’ll see $200.

On your first few statements, the number of units sold will be a pretty decent number. DON’T GET EXCITED JUST YET. Now is not the time buy a boat or head to the nearest watering hole and buy everyone a round of drinks. The units sold on your statement is actually the number of books purchased BY BOOKSTORES and not by consumers. For example, a Barnes & Noble might say, “Sure this looks like a good book—we’ll put five copies in each store.” This purchase is what you see on your statement. The catch is that if Barnes & Noble doesn’t sell those copies, they have the option of returning them to the publisher for a refund. This is why your publisher will occasional hold back a percentage of sales, called a “Reserve for Returns” until a certain amount of time has passed (more on this here). For the first several royalty statements, you’ll see all kinds of sales, and then after a few accounting periods have gone by the returns will kick in and you’ll start to see negative units (unless, of course, you’re Stephenie Meyer). It’s a discouraging sight, but take heart—it happens to most authors.

As far as earnings go, it’s important to remember that just because there were sales, it doesn’t mean you’ll be seeing a fat check anytime soon, due to that pesky thing called an advance. Advance is short terminology for “Advance Payment Against Royalties,” meaning you won’t see a penny of your royalties until you “earn back” your advance. Any amount above the advance is your true royalty. The nice thing about an advance though, is that you get the money up front and if you fail to earn enough to equal your advance (also known as “earning out”) you still get to keep it.

Be Aware of Escalations

Many contracts contain different royalty percentages, depending on sales. For example, the publisher might agree to pay you 10% of sales for the first 10,000 copies sold, 12% for the next 10,000, and 15% thereafter. This is called an escalation. If your contract contains an escalation, it is very important you pay attention to the number of units sold, and that the royalty percentages escalate properly.

Cumulative Units and Earnings

The cumulative columns are the most important part of your statement. This is where you’re going to find mistakes, if there are any. The cumulative columns show the total units sold to date and the total earnings to date.

This is where you need to do a little math. When you receive your second royalty statement, add the units sold with the units from the first statement and make sure it agrees with the cumulative units on the second statement. Do the same with the earnings. If you have an unearned balance from your advance, you’ll also want to subtract cumulative earnings from the initial advance to make sure the balance is correct. It sometimes helps to keep a small ledger of just statement dates and unearned balance amounts, since this is the most important number to know.

Next Time--The Multi-Book Contract: Is It Worth It?

I've Changed My Mind--I'm Going With Harper Lee

2009-05-28T10:04:00.004-04:00

Before I get to explaining how to read a royalty statement (which I keep putting off because, let's face it, it's not the most interesting topic to write about) I thought you might be interested in hearing this interview with James Patterson that I heard on NPR last night, where he describes his writing process. Since the process seems to involve more editing than actual writing, I'm changing my answer to Harper Lee.

That said, Patterson has a point. Artists have been taking their concepts and hiring them out to others to execute for years. Take Jeff Koons, for example. Patterson argues that people have a hard time accepting when a writer does this (though they shouldn't because it happens all the time, whether readers are aware of it or not).

We could argue all day whether Patterson and Koons are producing real art or pure product, whether there is a difference between hiring someone to craft a sculpture or a paperback, whether you can truly call yourself the creator of a piece of art if you have a hand only in the concept but not the execution. I will say, however, that when you choose to skip the actual process, something is lost in both the art and the artist.

Understanding Your Royalty Statment--Part I

2009-05-20T19:30:00.002-04:00

This has been a long time coming. In fact, I’ve been wanting to cover this topic ever since I started this blog—over a year ago—but I kept putting it off. For those of you who don’t know, I spent many of my formative years in New York City, working in the accounting department of a literary agency. A big part of my job (aside from chasing down info from my famous co-workers, storing old documents in the rodent-filled basement, and eating copious amounts of take-out Indian food at lunch) was auditing unearned royalty statements. And yes, we found mistakes. Lots of them.

If you have an agent, the accounting department of your agency will likely be scanning your statements for errors (reason #812 to have an agent). If you don’t have an agent, you’ll need to be looking for errors yourself. Either way, it behooves every author to know how to read a statement and check for errors. Far too many of us right-brained authors are at a total loss when it comes to the business side of things and it’s crucial that we keep ourselves informed. Sure, reading royalty statements is about as much fun as filing taxes, but it doesn’t have to be painful. So open that desk drawer, dig out those unread statements, and let’s have a look, shall we?

The first thing you need to know is that most royalties are reported twice a year. It used to be that all the major publishers reported at the same time, but now the dates are spread out and every house has its own timetable. To find out when your statement is reported, look at the top of the statement. It should say “For Period Ending __________”.

Let’s say your statement says, “For Period Ending June 30, 2009”. Just because the accounting is finished on this date, it doesn’t mean the statement will make its way to you anytime soon. It can take as long as three months for the publisher to compile, print, and send out the report. So that statement for the period ending June 30^th won’t make it to you or your agent until the end of September. If you have an agent, you can add at least another month for processing, meaning you might see it in October or November. It might feel like everyone’s sitting on your statement, trying to make the wait as long as possible, but I can assure you that a lot of work goes into getting the statements out to every author. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that at royalty time, my colleagues and I in the accounting office were surrounded by foot-high stacks of statements, covering every available surface. Be patient; you will get your statement.

There is one quirky instance, however, when you can wait up to a year for your first royalty statement. This happens when the release date of your book falls close to the end of an accounting period. Let’s say then that your book comes out in mid-June and the publisher’s accounting period ends June 30^th. The publisher will, most likely, not issue a royalty statement because there isn’t any data to go on. In that case, your first statement will be for the period ending December 31^st. Add in the usual four-month wait time for processing and you’re already at the end of April—nearly a year since the release of your book.

So you finally have your statement—now what? We’ll delve into the meaning of those numbers on the next post.

Oprah Vs. James Frey

2009-05-13T14:22:00.002-04:00

In old news...

According to this article in TIME magazine, Oprah has apologized for ripping James Frey up one side and down the other on national TV. Unfortunately, the damage has been done. Too bad she chastised him in public and apologized in private--it should have been the other way around.

Breaking the Rules

2009-05-08T21:13:00.002-04:00

One of the things I love about starting a new creative pursuit is that it has a way of informing all your other endeavors. For example, I was recently thumbing through my brand-new copy of BEND THE RULES SEWING by Amy Karol, when I came across this little nugget of advice in chapter one:

“You have to be good enough to know when you can bend the rules.”

This reminded me of something I’d read in Molly Wizenberg’s cookbook/memoir A HOMEMADE LIFE a few weeks ago. When trying a new recipe, her mother urges her to follow the instructions to the letter the first time through. After she has prepared the dish the intended way, she is free to improvise the next time. This way, she can have a better understanding of how all the components work together if she should choose to improvise the second time around.

These two anecdotes, of course, made me think of fiction writing. I’m all for breaking the rules, but you need to know what you’re doing in order to break them. I’m sure most people would agree with this statement. But let’s take this thought a bit further…is there a limit to how rules you can break at once?

A few weeks ago, I probably would have said no. It’s kind of silly to have a rule about breaking the rules, right? But then I saw Woody Allen’s VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA and I started to have a change of heart.

(Forgive me on commenting on such an old movie. Long gone are the days when I used to see one or two movies a week. Sadly, the last movie I saw in a theatre was WALL-E. )

The movie, which received excellent reviews and earned Penelope Cruz an Academy Award, starts breaking rules right from the first scene and continues throughout the movie. All along the way, broken rules start to pile-up like roadkill on the highway: the story is propelled by an omniscient voice-over narration rather than by the characters themselves; major events happen off-screen; there is little conflict, and the conflict that exists is short-lived and easily resolved; a major character is introduced late in the story; clichés abound in both story and stereotypes; in the end, the major characters return to their normal lives unchanged…just to name a few.

There were so many broken rules, I started to wonder if Woody Allen had written the movie as an intentional exercise in rule-breaking rather than focusing on making a good story. I mean, the guy knows what he’s doing and he’s broken rules forever, but this time the result felt overwhelmingly shallow. The movie received such glowing praise that I’m in the minority here, but it left me thinking that rules are best broken in moderation. There’s something admirable in going for broke, but sticking to a few rules while breaking others might be necessary to give your experimentation some legitimacy.

Perhaps I’m just generalizing based on a mediocre movie—but I’d love to hear your thoughts. Is there a limit to how many rules you should break at the same time?

My New Love

2009-05-01T13:17:00.004-04:00

I’ve taken up a new hobby. As someone who has hardly enough time to read or clean her bathroom, this is a really dumb idea. But I can’t help it. I’ve fallen madly in love with sewing.

Sewing and I have flirted a few times before, but nothing ever came of it. In my high school home economics class my teacher became so exasperated at my four failed attempts to sew the neckline of a sweatshirt that she ended up finishing the piece for me. In college, my nana (who was an excellent seamstress) tried to help me sew a bias-cut, sky blue, elastic-waisted skirt (there are so many things wrong with that, I don’t know where to begin). The skirt was three sizes too big and ugly to boot. When I was first married, my mother-in-law, another excellent seamstress, helped me make some pillows. I chose a difficult patchwork style and the whole process took way too long and was very frustrating. From then on, I swore off sewing.

Then, just two months ago, after seeing all the beautiful work that Amanda Soule does, I got it in my head that I would try again. Somehow, I thought it would be different this time—and it was. Something clicked. In the two months since I’ve had my new sewing machine, I’ve made four dresses and three skirts for my daughters, a skirt and a pair of pj bottoms for myself, plus this handbag:

This new hobby of mine has quickly become a passion. It is such a thrill to discover a new creative outlet that brings joy to your life. It is also an incredible distraction, especially when you’re supposed to be scrubbing the bathtub or, say, working on your damn novel.

But let’s stay on the bright, guilt-free side of things, shall we? Creativity feeds creativity. A new form of expression often broadens our scope and enlightens us; it arms us with fresh methods of problem-solving and reminds us that no matter what the medium, the creative process is often the same across all art forms.

How’s that for rationalizing? Did I sell it? Now, if you'd be so kind, excuse me while I go find some writing inspiration in a skirt hem.

Elizabeth Gilbert On Creative Fear

2009-04-22T14:07:00.002-04:00

First, I want to send a hearty congratulations to my fellow Mainer, Elizabeth Strout, who has just won the Pulitzer Prize for her collection of short stories, entitled OLIVE KITTERIDGE. This brings our state's grand total of Pulitzer Prize winners to around four or five. Not bad for a small, rural state.

My dear friend Bonnie sent me this link to a video of Elizabeth Gilbert (the author of the wildly successful EAT, PRAY, LOVE) talking about creativity and fear. She also addresses the problems related to writing a follow-up to a huge bestseller, which made me think back to the old Lee vs. Patterson debate. The video is about 20 minutes long and I highly recommend you take a look.

For Word Nerds

2009-04-17T14:26:00.002-04:00

In this chilly little part of the world, spring has finally arrived. The crocuses are in bloom and the winter blues have melted with the snow. Time for yard work, digging in the garden, and finding creative inspiration in nature. I've found tiny leaves of rhubarb unfurling in my patch, and a tuft of chives in the herb garden. All that potential energy is so exciting--like when a story is burning inside you but you have yet to sit down and write the first word. Anything feels possible.

Speaking of writing...yesterday was the 50th anniversary of that ubiquitous grammar manual, Strunk & White's THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE. Author Marc Acito pays a hilarious tribute to the book on NPR's All Things Considered, which you can listen to here.

Enjoy the weekend.

American Idol Redux (Or, How Not to Get a Big Head)

2009-04-14T18:31:00.002-04:00

Here I am, blogging about American Idol again. I can’t help it. There’s so much the show has to teach us about being artists—maybe I should do a whole series of posts on what we can learn from watching this bit of reality fluff.

Last time, I wrote about how important it is to learn how to handle criticism well. The focus was mainly on negative criticism, but as I’ve been watching the show this season, it’s occurred to me that we need to talk about handling praise, too.

If you’ve ever watched the show, you’ll know that when a contestant stands before the judges after his performance, one of two things will happen: he’ll be praised or criticized. If he’s praised, the contestant will often sigh with relief, throw this head back, and close his eyes as if to say, I’m good, I’m really good—even Simon thinks so! The crowd will cheer, affirming that this praise is the gospel truth. If he’s criticized, he’ll make excuses, become defensive, or declare it is “simply the judges’ opinion” and the crowd will boo. Apparently, if the comments are negative, they can’t be true.

Where does this attitude that praise is always true and criticism isn’t come from? As I mentioned before, automatically dismissing negative criticism is harmful to artists, who should always be striving to improve their craft. What may be even more harmful, though, is believing every nice thing said about you.

Now, I’m all for self-confidence—you can’t send your art into the world without having truth faith in yourself—but I am against believing your own hype. Everyone in the entertainment industry, from movie producers to publishers, is always on the lookout for the next BIG thing. They want it so badly that when they find a project they really love, they hype it to the high heavens, sometimes forgetting that there is a person attached to this project who might be getting their hopes up.

This happens to new writers all the time. You sell your book to a publishing house and suddenly your agent and your editor are telling you about all the important people who loved your book. They tell you about the movie scouts who called. They tell you about the foreign publishers who are lined up to buy it and all the marketing campaigns that are planned. There is loose talk about trips, tours, TV shows. Oprah. Awards. Soon, the reviews come in and you’re compared to Mark Twain or Charles Dickens.

And it this point it would be so, so easy to sit back and think “I’ve made it.” For a few, this will be the case. For most, it won’t. And while your agent and editor were genuine in their excitement, neither one has the power to control the market nor the ability to know just what will strike a chord with the reading public. Sadly, if you’ve bought into all the grand predictions and none of them pan out, you’ll end up feeling like a failure, when you’re nothing of the sort.

Or maybe all the predictions hold true and you become a superstar. Wonderful. But be on guard—the moment you begin to believe the hype, you’ll be in danger of becoming complacent and your work will suffer.

A few years ago I had the terrific opportunity to sign copies of my book at Book Expo America. I can’t tell you what a thrill it was to be sitting only a few booths away from people I’ve long admired—Michael Cunningham, Spike Lee, Bill Maher. There were posters and stacks of post cards with the cover of my book on them, and a long line of people who wanted to get a copy. I did a reading, a phone interview, met some of my foreign publishers. At night I collapsed in my hotel room overlooking Central Park and in the morning I woke up to room service. I was in heaven.

But after a few days, I have to say that I was starting to get a little sick of myself. All that praise and special attention was addictive, but in such great quantity it was also beginning to ring a little hollow. And here I was, just a first-time novelist. I could only imagine what it felt like to be a true celebrity, when people licked your boots all day, every day.

At the end of my trip, at a special dinner thrown by my publisher, I asked my college mentor, Richard Russo, how he handled praise. He’s certainly had his share, especially after winning the Pulitzer Prize for his novel EMPIRE FALLS. In answer to my question, he pointed to his wife, saying that she helped keep him steady. He also said that no matter who you are, there will inevitably come a time when people won’t talk about you anymore—or at least not as much as they did—and if you aren’t secure in yourself, you risk falling apart.

It seems to me that when it comes to praise and criticism, it’s important to keep a certain baseline of confidence that holds steady in the face of scathing reviews or spectacular praise. Any comment thrown your way should be received with proper perspective and a little distance. Remember that the work is being judged, not you. Your value as a person has nothing to do with your level of fame or talent, and cannot be altered even if you become a giant success or spectacular failure.

Harper Lee vs. James Patterson

2009-03-30T13:56:00.002-04:00

This is my sixth day of being stuck in a house full of sick people—bad colds for my husband and me, pneumonia for my little girls. Nothing serious, thank goodness, just a lot of fevers and runny noses and cranky moods all around. And ramen noodles. Loads of them. Even though I’m sleep-deprived, I thought I’d attempt a post anyway, since it beats watching yet another kids’ movie. So forgive me if the following is a bit pointless—it’s the best I can conjure under the circumstances.

A few years ago, when I spoke with a group of high school students who had read my novel, one young man posed an interesting question: “If you had the choice of having the career of Harper Lee or James Patterson, which would you choose?”

It’s a surprisingly tough question to answer. On one hand we have Lee, whose only novel, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, so elegantly written yet politically powerful, has become a staple of the literary canon. On the other, we have the wildly popular and prolific Patterson, a mainstay of the bestseller lists. I can see the battle lines being drawn right now—literary writers for Lee and genre writers for Patterson. But let’s not kid ourselves. Every literary writer secretly hopes for popularity and every bestselling author yearns for respect. Unfortunately, the two intersect only for a very lucky few.

So, which is better—critical acclaim or popularity? In a way, it’s a moot question since both are largely out of one’s control. Getting reviewed at all (let alone getting a favorable review) is often a function of economics, taste, and dumb luck. Popularity is largely a function of timing and dumb luck, though an author with a great deal of savvy and excellent resources can affect this somewhat. Sustaining one’s critical acclaim or popularity over time is another story. Lee’s book remains one of the best American novels because it lives up to the hype. Patterson still reigns over the bestseller lists because he consistently delivers gripping stories. So while it’s easy to play the literary snob and say Lee, Patterson also deserves some respect.

The key to this question, for me, was the number of books each writer produced. Although I would love nothing more to create a work with lasting impact, the idea of writing only one novel in the course of a lifetime seems, well, a bit depressing to me. Creating a single masterpiece makes you a god forever, but it also leads a void, where everyone (including you) wonders what else you could have done.

So, to my surprise, my answer was Patterson. Not because I care about sales over quality, but because I want writing to be my lifelong career, and not just a brilliant spark that burns out too soon.

It’s funny, though. Even now, I keep asking myself if that was the right answer.

Space

2009-03-17T09:57:00.002-04:00

John Cheever’s short story, “Reunion” is a marvel of economy. This story is so tight it squeaks. If you have twelve minutes to spare, check out The New Yorker podcast featuring Richard Ford reading this masterful story and the brief discussion that follows. Deborah Treisman, fiction editor at The New Yorker, mentions in the podcast that even though the story is only around 1,000 words, it feels more like a 10,000 word story with 9,000 words left unspoken.

As writers, we are often so concerned with choosing the perfect words and not leaving anything out that the idea of shifting our focus to what can be left out really turns writing on its head. It’s often easier to say everything there is to be said instead of giving the reader a little empty space to piece things together on his own. Cheever reminds us that a story can be defined as much by the written as the unwritten. Empty space doesn’t have to be empty at all.

Space is important in all art forms. Sculptors consider ‘negative space’, or the area surrounding the piece, when they create. In music, the rests are nearly as important as the notes, working in tandem with the beat to create rhythm. Listen to reggae and you’ll know what I mean. In pop and rock, the beat falls on the one and three, whereas in reggae it falls on the two and four. This subtle shift creates space where there usually is none, giving the music an entirely different feel.

Space is crucial in the dramatic arts. Think about spoken dialogue and how the meaning of what is being said changes or is heightened by the use of pauses. When I think of pauses in acting, I immediately think of Christopher Walken in the classic watch scene from PULP FICTION. Notice how he uses space for both dramatic and comedic effect (warning--clip contains offensive language).

Deciding to put space into your writing is easy to do; executing it is another matter. There is danger in trimming too much, leaving the reader feeling confused or feeling that something crucial has been left out. If you’re unsure where to start, try the “10% Rule”—get your story as tight as you can, then trim another 10%. An even better way is to study the stories of masters, like Cheever. With your writer’s eye, pay attention to what has been left out.

Update on Pat

2009-03-04T13:49:00.003-05:00

T.S. Eliot thought April was the cruelest month, but for many of us in Maine, it’s March. With January and February behind us, it seems as though we ought to be this close to Spring, but we really have another two or three months before there is any warmth or signs of growth. Ever the optimist, I keep thinking it will be different this year, and every year it drags on and on. I’ve spent many Easter Sundays wearing thick sweaters.

One way to battle the late winter blues is to reconnect with friends. To that end, I have contacted my old college buddy Patrick Robbins. For those of you who haven’t read my previous posts about Patrick, he’s a writer who finished grad school last year and spent the summer in an Airstream trailer writing a novel. The novel poured out of him in an adrenaline rush that left me envious. For his update, I thought I’d share with you what he wrote to our alumni magazine when they asked him what he was up to:

Patrick Robbins made under six thousand dollars last year, which should start putting a dent in his $55,000 worth of grad school bills. He is unemployed, as his last position, working the third shift in a warehouse, was only a seasonal one. His car, a 1997 Ford Escort, recently passed the 135,000 mile mark - and won't pass any others, as it failed inspection spectacularly. He can't get an agent to read his novel (or at least not the first 20 he asked). He would probably be living with his girlfriend, if he had one; as it is, once this housesitting gig is over, it looks like another summer staying with his parents. All of which serves to distract him from his prehypertension and slight weight gain, though the receding hairline is harder to miss…

While Pat was having a bad day when he wrote this, he assures me that he has his share of good days, too. He still hasn’t given up on his novel, and is currently waiting to hear back from two agents. He has eight stories in circulation. And best of all, he is now writing regularly as a pop culture blogger for Examiner.com. I hope you’ll take a minute to check out his informative and always entertaining blog. I truly think he’s found his niche.

You Can Have It All--Just Not at the Same Time

2009-02-23T19:59:00.005-05:00

The winter blues have officially set in—and not just because we're buried in fifteen inches of new snow and vacation is now a fading memory. It dawned on me this morning that in June it will be five years since my novel, THE GREATEST MAN IN CEDAR HOLE, was released in hardcover.

Oh, my. Time has certainly slipped away from me.

Knowing that five years have passed and I have not published anything makes me feel quite panicky, I assure you, though I’m a little less panicky than I used to be. The first and second anniversaries of the paperback edition gave me the prickly sweats and led to many sleepless nights. If I had had a project in the pipeline, it wouldn’t have been so bad. But I had nothing. I was losing momentum. The more I white-knuckled it, the harder it was to write.

So, I relaxed. An idea finally did come to me, but the problem was more about time than will. Being the mother of very active, preschool-aged twins leaves me with very little mental or physical energy to be productive. It used to be that when I had a moment to be still, a narrative would constantly be flowing in my head. Now, when I find that rare moment of quiet, I hear nothing.

When I started my writing career, I was single, living in New York, and producing four books a year as a ghostwriter in addition to working full-time at a literary agency. I lived with a constant adrenaline rush, always facing a deadline or having a book coming out. It felt great to be doing the very thing I loved the most. In six years, I produced 14 books, though I won’t pretend for a minute that ghostwriting teen books is anywhere as difficult as writing an adult literary novel. It took me five years to do that, largely because I am a very slow, deliberate writer.

I remember a conversation I had with some housemates (I lived in a boarding house) about work and relationships, and someone brought up an old adage that has many different permutations, but his version was this: “You can have a great relationship, a great social life, and a career, but not all three at the same time.” Everyone at the table looked at me, as though I was the apparent exception to this, but I assured them that even though I had a great relationship and a career I loved, I had no social life at all. This seemed to bring great relief to my housemates, who all felt that they were lacking in some aspect of this trinity of happiness.

I used to think that people who complained about not being able to “have it all” just weren’t trying hard enough, but now I’m thinking that the rule of three is probably true for most of us. I still have the great relationship (and now family life), I have a great network of friends (though some of you keep moving away), but at the moment, no career. There are some people who appear to have no trouble with this balancing act—Soule Mama, for example—but I have yet to figure out the trick to having success on all fronts. Every time I focus on one aspect of my life—writing, for example—something else goes to hell, like the housekeeping. Every time I put out a fire, I inadvertently start a new one someplace else.

I take the edge off my panic by telling myself that there is a time for everything, and right now, it’s my time to be a mother. In two years they’ll be in school full time and I’ll have a much easier time with my juggling act, so enjoy the moment. And I really do. But I’ll never fully surrender to literary idleness, either. My moments of creation are so rare but they still give me such deep satisfaction that giving up just isn’t an option. As far as my career goes, I'm thinking I may have to re-adjust my expectations just a little.

(P.S. If anyone familiar with Blogger can help me with my inconsistent fonts, I would really appreciate it. For some reason, I can't fix this problem.)

Dig Out Those Crayons

2009-02-17T19:22:00.003-05:00

The other day I was cleaning up after one of my children’s many creative projects and found that I had a giant pile of art work to contend with. Although everything they create, in my eyes, is a masterpiece, most of it quickly makes its way to the recycle bin. I usually pick one or two outstanding pieces from each session and toss the rest; if I didn’t, we would be drowning in paper due to the sheer volume of art they make each day.

How wonderful to be so prolific, to create with such abandon. They have yet to find their inner (and outer) critics and I hope they can hold onto their freedom for as long as possible. As I disposed of piles of self-portraits and abstracts pieces (and tried not to feel guilty for doing so), I came to the idea that my children did not expect me to keep every scrap. For them it was more about the process than the result. The sheer joy of creation was what they were after. Whatever they make, they do it for themselves first, then show me for approval. As every parent knows, my job is not to critique, but to bear witness to their creation. Once I have seen what they have done, the piece is quickly cast aside and a new work is in progress.

Learning to enjoy the creative process without judgment is an old refrain, but we need to be reminded of it often. When was the last time you created something purely for joy, without the attachment of expectations? How many of us write for ourselves, alone, without worrying about what agents want, or how big our advance will be, or if Steven Spielberg will want to buy the movie rights?

Today, create something for you, alone. Just for the fun of it.

New Project

2009-02-11T13:49:00.003-05:00

My family and I just returned from a great mid-winter trip to Florida. Although it was pretty chilly for much of the trip, the sun felt great.

Just before we left, my two young daughters and I were sick with bad colds. After dinner one evening, when they started feeling better but I was still in rough shape, they begged me to play with them. I didn't have the energy for play or for even reading to them, so we cuddled on the couch, I closed my eyes, and told them a story.

The story that came out surprised me. I had no idea where it was going and was too sick to care, so I just let it flow. After I finally put the girls to bed that night, I sat down at my computer and wrote down the story. Even after re-reading the story several days later, I still really liked it. And even though I know every mother on the planet thinks they can write a children's book, I'm still going to see if I can get it published. What have I got to lose?

Right now, I'm re-working the story...a lot. It's very far from perfect and it has actually changed a lot from its original form. Then I'm going to see if I can get an agent. According to the children's book authors I've spoken with, usually you have to try to sell the book to a publisher first before a children's book agent will be interested, which is totally backwards from the adult market. Even though this is the conventional method, my plan is to contact a few agents I know first, and if that fails, I'll go the regular route.

I'll keep you posted.

Self-Publishing

2009-01-28T15:33:00.002-05:00

I'm not going to delve too deeply into this controversial topic, but for anyone who is interested in self-publishing, I urge you to read this article in the New York Times: "Self-Publishers Flourish While Authors Pay the Tab."

If you're interested in having copies of your story made up for friends and family, great. If, however, you're expecting publishing fame and fortune, you might want to consider a different tack. There is a big difference between having your worked printed and having it published.

Rabbit at Rest

2009-01-27T19:50:00.003-05:00

The great John Updike died today at the age of 76. It’s difficult to read Updike and not feel that you are witness to some sort of divine grace—writers of his caliber are clearly born, not made. He will be missed.

Biography & Interview

This I Believe Essay for NPR

Interview with Charlie Rose

Tell Me How You Really Feel

2009-01-21T18:47:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago I received a nice note from a reader who had enjoyed my book. She found me through one of those book networking sites, and so after I responded, I went to check out her page. Underneath her review of my book were several favorable reviews by other readers. As I scrolled down the page, however, I came across one reader who described my novel as “hands-down, the worst book I have ever read.”

Ouch. The review was so brutal, I found myself laughing in disbelief. Still, it didn’t seem to bother me all that much, not like it would have a few years ago when the book came out. Now, it seemed to kind of bounce off. I attributed my unusually mature reaction to the fact that the book is history to me. My focus is on the book I’m currently working on.

And yet, in the following days, I found myself chewing on those negative words. I was compelled to bring up the review to my close friends and family, which was a clear sign that the reader’s comments were bothering me. Their reactions were just as supportive as I’d hoped they’d be, calling into question the reviewer’s moral character, intelligence, and taste. My father wondered if the reviewer was angry and had an ax to grind. My mother—let’s just say I hope the guy never bumps into her in a dark alley.

While I so appreciate my loved ones coming to my defense, I just can’t join in on the demonizing bandwagon. There was nothing in the review that was abusive or deranged. He just didn’t like it. I, along with everyone else, have a list of the worst books, movies, TV shows, songs, etc. that I’ve ever come across—and surely those pieces are as dear to their creators as my book is to me. There’s no point in finding fault with someone for expressing his opinion. He is, after all, entitled.

Even if he's wrong.

Happy Inauguration Day!

2009-01-20T14:23:00.002-05:00

I hope you've been enjoying the festivities on this historic day. Check out this creative marvel: The Presidential Inauguration rendered in Legos.

It's All Right To Think You're The Greatest--Just Keep It To Yourself

2009-01-15T10:05:00.006-05:00

Tess Gerritsen has a great blog entry over at Murderati about how arrogance can kill your chances of getting an agent. The story she tells is not an isolated incident—in fact, it is all too common.

Querying an agent is a lot like going on a job interview. The agent isn't only interested in a writer's talent, but she also wants to know if this is someone she will enjoy working with. No agent wants to work with someone who is pesky, demanding, and think they're God's gift. A humble attitude goes much, much further than overconfidence.

Favorite Quotes

2009-01-14T13:19:00.003-05:00

In going through my old papers, I’ve found several of my favorite quotes. These tidbits of wisdom have been taped to the edges of my monitor or pinned to my bulletin board since I started writing professionally, giving me a nudge when I needed it most. Maybe there’s something here that will give you a little inspiration as well.

The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow. –H.G. Wells

Exquisitely developed characters and heartbreaking stories are the obligations of any novel worth remembering. –John Irving

We must be the change we wish to see in the world. –Gandhi

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action; and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. If you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. –Martha Graham

Write a little every day, without hope, without despair. –Isak Dinesen

Before you speak, ask yourself: Is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence? –Shirdi Sai Baba

Every act of love is a work of peace, no matter how small. –Mother Teresa

And my personal favorite, found in a fortune cookie:

Show-off always shown up in showdown. –Confucius

I also have a clipping that was given to me by a friend’s mom. It’s basically a crash course in grammar, with each rule humorously illustrating the point.

How to Write Good

Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read.

No sentence fragments.

It behooves us to avoid archaisms.

Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.

Don’t use no double negatives.

If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times: Resist hyperbole.

Avoid commas, that are not necessary.

Verbs has to agree with their subjects.

Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.

Writing carefully, dangling participles should not be used.

Kill all exclamation points!!!

Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.

Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

Take the bull by the hand, and don’t mix metaphors.

Don’t verb nouns.

Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.

Last but not least, avoid clichés like the plague.

--William Safire

If you have any words of inspiration you’d like to share, please do.

Cleaning House

2009-01-06T20:03:00.009-05:00

Happy New Year to all! I, for one, was very happy to see 2008 go—it was not my favorite year by a longshot. I think 2009 is very promising. I’m feeling enthusiastic and energetic. Maybe this is the year I’ll have the time to make some serious headway on my novel. I’ve just spent the morning reading bits of what I’ve written and I’m really happy with what I have so far.

I’m not normally one for New Year’s resolutions. I agree with Puzzle Master Will Shortz—self-improvement can take place any time of year, not just on January 1st. That being said, I have a few simple writing-related goals in mind and now is as good a time as any to get cracking. Here they are, in no particular order:

1) Clean My Desk. As you can see from the picture above, it’s a bit cluttered. Unfortunately, I don’t have separate areas for writing and general household management, so my writing space has become a dumping ground for everything, including toys (note the Barbie on the far right). Normally, the mess doesn’t prevent me from writing, but just looking at it can drain my energy.

2) Speak Correctly. In high school, I made the conscious effort to sound more “folksy” so I wouldn’t be accused of being “nerdy”. Dumb idea. If I really wanted to avoid being nerdy, I should have quit the math team and the marching band. Instead, I developed a life-long bad habit of using words like “gonna”, which I’m finding impossible to break myself from. Someday, if Charlie Rose calls for an interview and I haven’t broken my habit, I’m gonna be mortified.

3) Read More. I am embarrassed to say that I spend very little time reading. Stephen King once said something along the lines of: “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.” His meaning, of course, was that writing and reading go hand in hand—you can’t be a good writer if you don’t read. Very true. I also take it as an affirmation: I have very little time to write and my lack of reading is proof. I actually read all kinds of things during the day—catalogs, magazines, children’s books, online articles—but what I truly need is more good fiction.

4) Write More. Sometimes I develop an all-or-nothing attitude toward writing. If I don’t have a significant block of time to write, it doesn’t seem worth making the attempt. While it’s hard to dig deep during short spurts, I think I need to try writing even when I only have ten minutes to spare.

5) Brush Up. I feel like there are giant holes in my general knowledge—particularly of history and grammar—that need filling. I’m going to dig out that old Strunk & White and some history books and try to plug the holes.

If you have any goals for 2009, I’d love to hear about them.

The Comedy of Delusion

2008-12-15T20:43:00.003-05:00

One of my favorite comedic movie scenes of all time is the marching band scene from Woody Allen’s TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN. If you haven’t seen it (or even if you have) check it out:

When I watched the movie recently, I was curious to see if the scene would have the same effect on me as it did when I first saw it ten years ago. Sure enough, I was doubled over, laughing so hard I was crying. We all know that humor is an elusive, subjective thing that is difficult to nail down, but watching the marching band scene again after all these years made me wonder why it still worked.

In thinking about this, it occurred to me that the joke breaks over the audience in several waves. First of all, there is Allen’s masterful stroke of absurdity—a cellist in a marching band. Once the initial surprise of this begins to wear off, we are hit with the realization of the logistical implications of a seated musician playing in a moving group. Then we are hit again as the band passes by Virgil and he has to pick up the chair, move it forward, sit, and start to play again. And if that wasn’t enough, we are hit again and again as the band passes him and he repeats the whole silly routine over and over. Instead of getting tiresome, Virgil’s attempts at keeping up just get funnier and funnier. It’s funny because even though we know his actions are futile, Virgil seems to think he’ll eventually figure out a way to keep up. He’s continually doing the same thing but expecting a different result—a form of insanity.

Perhaps my favorite form of comedic insanity is megalomania, which is the condition of being deluded about one’s power and importance. If I wasn’t afraid of repeating myself, I would write only about megalomaniacs because of their rich comic appeal. Fictional megalomaniacs that most readily come to mind are Barney Fife from the Andy Griffith Show, Don Quixote, and my personal favorite--Ignatius J. Reilly from John Kennedy Toole’s A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES. Reilly’s snobbish disdain for nearly everyone and everything becomes hilariously ironic when juxtaposed against his own sloth and social ineptitude.

Delusion is the gap between who a character thinks he is and who we know him to be. Beyond the comedy, there is also enormous potential for self-examination by the audience. Who does he think he is? we ask ourselves. Becoming judge and jury, we are then forced to ask, Who do we think we are?

Try A Little Tenderness

2008-12-09T10:10:00.001-05:00

A few posts back I discussed the issue of character likeability and whether a writer is obligated to create likeable characters. For the most part my answer is no, with one caveat: it is usually in the best interest of the story to make an unlikeable character sympathetic, particularly if he is immoral. As I mentioned earlier, giving immoral characters a sympathetic turn is one of the great hallmarks of skilled writing—especially when a writer convinces a reader to set aside his own moral code to root for the bad guy.

How is this done?

Character detail and depth are key, but the real secret is that an author must have a genuine affection for each of her characters. She must love them like her own children, mourning their failures and cheering on their successes, no matter how nefarious the goal. When everyone hates her character, the author has to be the one who says, “I know he did a bad thing, but give him a chance—he really is a good boy.”

It may seem like a stretch to expect a writer to be in love with murderers and thugs and all sorts of despicable personalities, but most writers understand that every character has their own point of view and a story worth telling. Better writing explores the nuances of moral ambiguity, gives voice to the voiceless, stirs compassion where normally there would be none.

In order to evoke sympathy, it’s not necessary to psychoanalyze and delve deeply into the past, though backstory can certainly help. Often, all you need to do to get a reader on your side is to show a little weakness. For example, in my novel, THE GREATEST MAN IN CEDAR HOLE, the main character, Francis is bullied by his oldest sister, Jackie. There is very little to like about Jackie—she is mean, emotionally stunted, greedy, and frequently uses threats and force to get her way. When I was writing the story, I knew that no one would really care for Jackie, but I still wanted to gently plead her case because she had been shaped by neglect, insecurity, and self-loathing. Despite her behavior, I knew that she wasn’t all bad.

To show her vulnerability, I constructed a scene between Jackie and her mother, Franny Pinkham. Franny tells Jackie (who is in her early twenties) that it’s high time she moved out and looked for a place of her own. Jackie does not take the news well, and in her typical fashion tries to run out of the kitchen. Franny blocks her, but Jackie plows through and ends up accidentally pushing her mother. Franny hits her head on the counter and falls to the floor. The head wound is small, but there is enough blood to make it look bad.

Given Jackie’s past insensitivities, it would not have been entirely unexpected for Jackie to leave her mother there on the floor, but really, only a sociopath would leave their mother alone and bleeding. This scene was a perfect opportunity to show Jackie’s fumbling humanity. Instead of running, she sinks to the floor and cradles her mother’s head in her lap. She still isn’t quite capable of an apology—at first she blames her mother for falling, then she says it’s an accident—but Jackie’s sudden gentleness shows the reader that she is truly sorry. Jackie becomes even more vulnerable when she says, “What do I do? I don’t know what to do.” It’s a refrain that refers not only to the urgency of the moment, but to the uncertainty of her future.

Action movie characters are often humanized by a love interest or friendship. While most of the time the hero’s actions are criminal, the audience will cut him some slack when they discover that he was once deeply in love or a very loyal friend. Usually, the love interest or the friend has been killed and our hero is a loner once again. Because he is capable of love, he becomes human in our eyes. The moral code is realigned toward this loss, and while we may or may not agree with how he handles his thirst for vengeance we can at least understand his motivation. He has now become a sympathetic character.

Write a Novel in 30 Days?

2008-11-11T15:07:00.002-05:00

I know I promised to divulge a secret for creating sympathetic characters—and I promise to get to it soon—but I couldn’t help commenting first on National Novel Writing Month. Through the month of November, writers and aspiring writers alike are encouraged to try producing a 50,000 word manuscript. Obviously, speed is the goal here, as well as ignoring your inner censor. It’s a chance for self-critical writers to let go and just produce instead of second-guessing every word. Admittedly, the quality of the work will suffer, but by the time the November 30th deadline rolls around, the hope is that the writer will have a first draft to work with.

As someone who has spent MANY hours fretting over word choice when I should have just kept plowing ahead, I fully understand the need for momentum. I also like the community and accountability aspect of such an exercise. If someone is too afraid to take the writing plunge, this project just might be motivation he needs.

And yet I really wonder if this exercise is really all that valuable. Except in those rare instances when a writer is overcome with frenzied inspiration (like my friend Pat, for example), it’s completely unrealistic to think a writer can force himself to write a novel in a month. At best, he will likely end up with a glorified outline—not a complete novel—which is definitely a fine starting place, but not an end unto itself. At worst, he will end up with a mess of false starts, wrong detours, and shallow thinking that will require much more work to untangle than he would have otherwise had to contend with had he taken a more deliberate approach.

What I suspect might actually happen for most writers who attempt the exercise is that at the end of the month they’ll fall short of the goal. Either they won’t make the word count, or the story will be unfinished, or maybe they will hate every word that they’ve written. What concerns me is that these writers will be too discouraged to work beyond the end of the month, and that they’ll blame themselves instead of seeing that their expectations were unrealistic to begin with.

I also question the wisdom of celebrating speed over quality. It’s easy to write the first thing that comes to our heads, but the real art comes from digging deeper, past even the second or third idea that comes to us. I would argue that a writer should take more pride in a single, well-crafted sentence than a month’s worth of thoughtless purging.

The concept of a month dedicated to writing a novel would serve writers better if the requirement was a daily time commitment and the goal was determined by each writer, individually. Many writers will find that they need a push to get started, but many more will need support in the middle of their novels, when the initial inspiration has worn off and the end is nowhere in sight. It is here—in this tenuous no man’s land—where most writers abandon their stories and where they need the most support. The solution is commitment, not speed.

Post-Election Euphoria

2008-11-06T19:42:00.002-05:00

Although I am a very political person by nature, I have purposely avoided discussing politics on this blog because there is no place for it here. Still, I find it impossible not to mention the monumental events of the past few days, and the tremendous sense of awe and relief that the election has brought. Even all the way up here in rural Maine, most of the people I have spoken with over the last few days have been incredibly moved and jubilant.

My friend Rik sent me this link from his blog showing the spontaneous rally that erupted in my old neighborhood, Union Square, NYC, right after Obama was declared the winner. I wish I had been there.

Election Day

2008-11-04T10:16:00.002-05:00

Just returned from the polls. I always find that voting--even when it's under much more mundane circumstances--is a very moving experience. Taking part in the election process is the ultimate expression of our freedom, so if you haven't done so already, I hope that you'll make voting your biggest priority today.

Character Likeability

2008-10-30T13:31:00.002-04:00

When a reader is unable to connect to a story, a common reason is that he finds the characters unlikeable. Even if he enjoys the writing style and the plot, if he dislikes a character enough the entire book becomes unbearable to read. Scan through enough Amazon reviews and you’ll find numerous rants along this vein.

Which begs the question: Is a writer obligated to create likeable characters?

Before we can answer the question we have to define what it means to be unlikeable, because to different readers it means different things. If by unlikeable the reader means merely irritating, the answer is maybe. In general, I would say that liking or not liking a fictional character is subjective and the author is entitled to her creation. However, if enough readers find the character too unpalatable to spend any time with, the author ought to take note and consider toning it down a bit.

If by unlikeable the reader means morally repugnant, I would say that no, the author is absolutely not required to change her character. My feelings about this are along the same lines as the use of profanity in literature—in order to examine life’s big questions, sometimes it’s important to go to the dark side. The greatest conflict in the universe is good vs. evil; to ignore that fact by populating a book with only nice characters is absurd.

However, even if a reader is willing to accept that an immoral character is worthy of her attention, he may still find the character unlikeable if he is unsympathetic. Once again, the writer is not required to change the character’s moral code for the sake of the reader, but I do feel that she has an obligation to evoke a little sympathy in the reader or at least give the reader some understanding into the character’s motivations. Giving immoral characters a sympathetic turn is one of the great hallmarks of skilled writing—especially when a writer convinces a reader to set aside his own moral code just long enough to root for the bad guy.

A character need not be immoral to be unsympathetic. Sometimes his motivations are simply obscured; the reader will then find his actions puzzling and illogical. Without the transparency of motivation, the reader may find difficulty connecting with the character.

Next Time: The Secret to Creating Sympathetic Characters

Writing What You Don't Know

2008-10-14T20:32:00.002-04:00

About ten years ago, I created a series of teen books called ON THE ROAD. It was about a recent high school graduate named Miranda who takes a year off before college to travel across the country. I had envisioned a fifty book series with Miranda visiting every state in the union. I loved the premise and quickly found a publisher who loved it, too. The only problem—which I kept to myself—was that at the time I had never traveled west of the eastern seaboard.

Information wasn’t as widely available on the Internet as it is now, so I set about doing my research the old-fashioned way. I read many travel guides and clipped newspaper articles about popular destinations; I requested info from the chamber of commerce of several cities; I talked to as many people as I could about the places where they grew up.

Even still, the task felt overwhelming. There was too much room for error. What if my details were wrong? How could I possibly capture the feeling of a place without ever being there?

For a while, these two questions paralyzed me—until I reminded myself that I wasn’t writing a travel guide, I was writing fiction. Yes, I wanted to do justice to the places Miranda visited, but the real point of the story was her own self-discovery. It was more important to stay true to Miranda’s inner journey than to worry about documenting every nuance of the landscape. It was then that I learned the magic of the well-placed detail. If you confidently scatter a handful of researched details within your fiction, the reader will often believe that you are an authority on the particular subject.

For example, at one point in the series, I had Miranda travel to Cincinnati. I don’t know much about the city, but being a foodie, I know about their famous chili. So, I stuck her in a diner, which is easy enough to describe, and had her order a 5 way (spaghetti, chili, onions, beans, and piles of cheese) just like a native. The detail is specific to the region, interesting to people who have never been there, and nostalgic for those who have. Other small details to consider: the terrain, native trees and flowers, landmarks, popular phrases and customs, local businesses, climate, etc.

Or what if you’re writing about an industry you’re unfamiliar with? Don’t feel like you have to pull a Tom Clancy and know it inside and out (although there’s nothing wrong with that) before you can write about it. Research two or three aspects of the industry really well, place them strategically in the story and move on. You don’t have to inundate the reader with detail to be convincing. Just a sprinkling here and there will suffice.

I’ll admit that writing about what you don’t know does, at times, feel a bit fraudulent. Here’s why it’s not: the purpose of fiction is often to reveal universal truths, which often requires a writer to stretch beyond his realm of experience. Secondly, a reader brings her own experiences to the work. Give the reader a few good details to hang her hat on, and her imagination will do the rest.

When I turned in my final manuscript for ON THE ROAD, I remember being a bit nervous because I had sent Miranda to San Francisco. I wasn’t really sure I could write about such a famous city convincingly. When my editor called to discuss rewrites, she was very excited.

“I lived there for ten years, you know,” she said.

Oh, great, I thought. Busted.

"You nailed it.”

I had to laugh. I really didn’t do much at all—it was her experience of San Francisco that brought the story to life. But I still didn’t tell her that I’d never been there.

Dialogue Workshop: The Interview

2008-10-07T13:25:00.006-04:00

Dialogue is a tricky beast. The key is to make it as natural is possible (when appropriate), but what sounds natural to our ears doesn’t always scan well on the page. I’ve learned a few techniques here and there to deal with different dialogue problems—today, I’m going to talk about how to avoid writing an exchange between two characters that sounds like an interview.

All writers have done this at one time or another. You have two characters and you need to convey some bit of information, so you kick off the dialogue with character #1 asking a question. Character #2 answers the question. Character #1 asks another question. Character #2 answers that question. And it continues on and on with character #1 basically conducting an interview and character #2 adding nothing to the conversation.

For example: let’s say we have two characters, Bob and Joe. Bob has sent Joe to the store to buy some soda. An hour later, Bob finds Joe sprawled on the couch, watching TV.

“Did you go to the store, yet?” said Bob.

“Yeah,” said Joe.

“How long have you been sitting here?”

“A while.”

“Where is my soda?”

“On the counter,” said Joe.

“Why didn’t you put it in the fridge?”

“I forgot.”

“Was there any change?”

“It’s in my coat pocket.”

There is always a place for a character to ask repeated questions, but like all things, it should be used in moderation. This time, I’m going to rewrite the example, eliminating all but one question:

“Did you go to the store, yet?” asked Bob.

“Yeah,” said Joe, “Got back a while ago. Soda’s on the counter.”

“It’s warm.”

“I forgot to put it in the fridge, sorry.”

“You can leave the change on the table,” said Bob.

“It’s in my coat pocket if you want to get it now.”

By eliminating all but one of the questions, you can avoid the monotony of interview-style dialogue. The conversation becomes tighter and Joe has the opportunity to participate and have a little personality.

A different way to combat an interview is to answer a question with a question. This is a particularly good technique when there is tension between the two characters. Here’s the same example again, rewritten with Joe asking some questions of his own:

“How long have you been sitting here?” asked Bob.

“What are you, the TV police?”

“Where is my soda?”

“Where do you think? It’s on the counter,” said Joe.

“You could’ve put it in the fridge.”

“I forgot.”

“Was there any change?”

“Are you worried I’m going to keep it?”

It’s a bit much to counter every question with another one, but you can see how answering a question with another question turns the tables and puts Joe in control of the conversation instead.

Another option is to have Joe avoid answering the questions altogether:

“Did you go to the store, yet?” asked Bob.

“It’s on the counter,” said Joe.

“It’s warm. Why didn’t you put it in the fridge?”

“The change is in my coat pocket.”

In this example, Joe’s answers come across as non sequiturs, but in the context of a larger conversation it would illustrate avoidance and closed off emotions.

Interview-style dialogue sometimes reads like the author is thinking aloud; it's almost as if he's the one asking the characters what's going to happen next. When you catch yourself in the question and answer cycle, take a moment to dig a little deeper.

Free Indirect Style

2008-09-30T13:46:00.003-04:00

The air has suddenly turned crisp here in Maine, signaling the onset of fall. Even though I graduated from college some fifteen years ago, this time of year always makes me feel a bit academic; I start reaching for the classics and for books about the writing process. To this end, I recently purchased a copy of critic James Wood’s HOW FICTION WORKS.

While the book is touted as a guide for writers and readers alike, I think all but the most critical of readers will find the book will find the book confusing and—dare I say it?—a tad boring. But for writers, this stuff is gold. Wood takes numerous examples from the literary canon and shows specifically why a passage does or doesn’t work. Readers may be a bit confused because it seems to me that it’s necessary to have attempted to write through some of these problems to fully understand the points being made.

The first twenty pages of the book alone are worth the price of admission and I encourage all novice writers to take a look. The topic is point of view. In brief: Wood argues that third person is rarely fully omniscient, that the narrator has a tendency to want to follow the thoughts of whatever character he happens to be talking about. Wood calls this “free indirect style”, but it is also often called “close third person”.

Close third person is sometimes likened to a camera perched on the shoulder of a character. We see everything through her eyes. This definition is a bit limiting, because it implies there still is a bit of distance—there are the narrator’s thoughts and the character’s thoughts. The camera both tells the story and tells us what the character is thinking.

Free indirect style, while basically the same thing, has a slightly different connotation. As Wood illustrates, free indirect style is more of a cross between straight omniscient narration and stream of consciousness. It allows the writer to tell the story from the narrator’s point of view and the character’s point of view alternately and simultaneously, often right within the same sentence. We dip in and out of the character’s thoughts, sometimes with just the choice of one word. Wood uses a masterful example from Henry James’s WHAT MAISIE KNEW to illustrate the point. The character we are close to is Maisie, a child. In a single passage of close third narration, James shows us three points of view simply with strategic word choice: 1) Maisie’s opinion, 2) the adults’ opinion, and 3) Maisie’s childlike version of the adults’ opinion. For further detail, I urge you to read James' passage and Wood’s analysis.

For this blog, I’ll offer a decidedly less brilliant example from my own writing. Here’s an early draft of a passage from the novel I’m currently working on. It pales against what Henry James accomplishes, but it’s enough of a taste of free indirect style to illustrate the point.

Ovid Kingsley tripped on air and landed face-down in the vestibule of his apartment building, wondering who—other than himself—was to blame for this unexpected fall. Splayed on the floor, Ovid rested his cheek on the gritty linoleum. In that blank moment between bewilderment and pain, three of his limbs swept in helpless arcs around him, while Ovid’s right arm, having failed to break his fall, crumpled rudely beneath his chest. As the pain yawned from wrist to elbow, Ovid uncoiled a comprehensive list of expletives aimed at all parties responsible for this moment: his mother and her toothpick ankles, which he’d inherited; Windy Bluffs, that pink bubble on WXYZ, who once again failed to forecast the correct time line of this sudden deluge; the anonymous Chinese laborer who no doubt incorrectly glued the soles of his shoes—just to name a few.

Most of the passage is told in the narrator’s voice, but I’ve highlighted a few words and phrases where Ovid’s voice is interjected, where his thoughts almost seem to interrupt the narration. These words are a bit more loaded—Ovid is trying to blame everyone but himself for the fall, so phrases such as “toothpick ankles” or “that pink bubble” or "who once again failed" or “who no doubt incorrectly glued” are tinged with anger. The narrator has no reason to be angry, so we know that these words belong to Ovid and not the narrator.

Free indirect style adds finesse to your writing. Rather that opting for the easy way out by telling the reader what your character is thinking, trying weaving your character’s state of mind within the narration using carefully chosen words. It will give your narration life.

Keep It To Yourself

2008-09-09T13:50:00.002-04:00

Occasionally, I’ll drop by the Writer’s Digest forums and read some of the threads, putting in my two cents here and there. Today, I found an interesting post by a writer named Lexi, who has been showing her unfinished manuscript to family and friends. She’s found herself in a quandary because her readers are so involved in the story they're telling what should happen next. Now she’s afraid of disappointing them if she takes the story in a different direction.

The writing process is different for everyone, but I cannot stress how perilous it is to share too much too soon. Most new writers are guilty of this—when an idea is bubbling inside you, it’s very difficult not to share it with someone. You explain your story to your loved ones, mostly in hope of a little affirmation, and the next thing you know they’re too involved, adding their own flourishes and plotlines. Or worse, their enthusiasm doesn’t match yours. The reason could simply be that they can’t visualize the story’s execution the way you can, but nonetheless, it can take the wind right out of your sails. Suddenly, the story that you couldn’t wait to write is no longer so urgent for you. Without that urgency, much of the magic of creation is lost.

Or maybe, like Lexi, you’ve shared your half-written story and are so inundated with opinions that you don’t know how to proceed. As Lexi now knows, she would have been much better off finishing a first draft before sharing the story with anyone. That way, at least, she could have had the peace to stick to her own vision, instead of feeling the need to bend to someone else’s.

When I was studying writing at Colby, I had the opportunity to meet the author Gish Jen (TYPICAL AMERICAN, THE LOVE WIFE). Among the great bits of advice she shared with our class, Gish recommended that when we were ready to write our first novels, we complete the first draft before sending the manuscript to agents and publishers. Her reason was that if you send only a partial draft, the editor would have too much sway with the rest of the story and it would no longer be just yours alone. I took this advice to heart.

When writing CEDAR HOLE, I didn’t show my work to anyone for four long years. I didn’t even show my husband. In fact, I didn’t let him read anything until it had been edited and galley-bound. When I tell people this, they find it slightly odd that I would keep the story even from my spouse. All I can say is that this is what works for me. These are my characters, living in my world, and any outside influence tends to complicate matters.

I’ve also discovered that keeping a story bottled up inside is a great source of creative energy. The moment I let the story out verbally, there’s no longer a need to write it down. It already exists in the world.

Was Bookman Involved?

2008-08-22T13:29:00.004-04:00

Here's a news story straight out of that Seinfeld library episode. I've never seen such a happy mugshot.

Remembering Martha

2008-08-21T19:56:00.001-04:00

I’m sad to report that earlier this week a friend of mine, Martha Blowen, passed away. Martha was an artist, a papermaker, a publisher, a writing coach, and a lovely, gentle soul. With her partner, Denis Ledoux, Martha started a small Franco-American publishing house called Soleil Press, which focused on memoirs and the immigrant experience. I spent several college summers interning at Soleil Press—copyediting, typing, stuffing envelopes—getting as much publishing experience as I could soak up.

I have many warm memories of sitting around Denis and Martha’s kitchen table drinking tea, looking out at the rolling fields behind their house, talking about the creative process. Their way of life was such an inspiration. Growing up in a small, blue collar town, I had never really known anyone who had given up the grind to do just what they loved—much less for art, which was deemed a frivolous luxury. Money was sometimes tight and they definitely had their struggles, but Martha and Denis were present for their children and for each other in ways that many of us would envy. They showed me there was another way to live.

In Martha’s own words:

“And you also can create the life you want. 'Follow your bliss' is not lightly said. There will be consequences and choices to make, but there's integrity in following what you know you should be doing for yourself.”

She will be missed.

Book Notes

2008-08-20T19:34:00.004-04:00

Hannah Tinti, a former colleague of mine from Writers House, has just released her debut novel THE GOOD THIEF. Entertainment Weekly gave it an A-. Read the review here and the fantastic premise and I’m sure it’ll have running to your nearest bookstore to pick up a copy.

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Had lunch with Patrick Robbins last week, who is feverishly revising his novel, TO MAKE OTHERS HAPPY, so he can be out of that tin can before the snow flies. I’ve been one of the lucky few to read the first draft, which is best described as HIGH FIDELITY meets THE GREAT GATSBY. I can definitely see this one on the big screen.

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On a whim, I decided to see if Tess Gerritsen had returned to blogging after being severely flamed earlier this year. Happily, she has. Check out this entry about what to pack on book tour. She writes that authors have become increasingly casual over the years--if you see an author in a business suit, it means they’ve either written a business book or it’s their first tour. I had to laugh, recalling the navy Brooks Brothers suit I bought for my first tour. I never wore the suit, going instead with simple black pants and a black sweater. I’ve learned since that black is supposedly a bad choice because it makes you seem unapproachable.

Is that why my book signings were always so empty?

Luck=Opportunity+Preparation

2008-08-12T15:52:00.002-04:00

Even though I’m a big believer in not taking advantage of people’s kindness, I’m also a big believer in being aggressive when an opportunity is presented to you. If the favorite metaphor for opportunity is a door, I like to think that if someone opens it even just a crack, I’m going to wedge my foot in there to make sure it doesn’t close again.

Haste is your best tool for the job. When someone offers to meet with you or talk with you—no matter how off-handedly the offer is made—try to nail down a date as soon as possible. If someone offers to read your work, get it to them as fast as you can. It shows that you’re serious and keeps the momentum going while you’re still fresh in mind.

An acquaintance of mine once returned from a writers’ conference very excited—she had made contact with an agent who was interested in reading her work. She told me the news a week after the fact, and still hadn’t sent him her work. She was hesitating because she didn’t think her manuscript was in perfect shape. Every day that passed, she grew less and less confident about sending it, and it’s very likely that as each day passed she was fading from the agent’s memory. I didn’t keep in touch with her so I have no idea if she ended up sending it in. If her manuscript was ready enough to pitch at a writers’ conference, then I think her best course of action would have been to FedEx that puppy the second she returned home.

When I tried out for my first ghostwriting job, my writing sample was initially rejected. The editor called to tell me what was wrong with my sample. During the course of the phone conversation, I took copious notes. At the end of the phone call, she said, “If you have any other questions, you can call me and maybe we can meet for coffee sometime.” She said this so casually I don’t think she really expected me to take her up on it. I could have said, “Sure, thanks,” and left it at that, but instead I said, “I’m free next week—is there a day that works for you?”

I’m really not sure where this confidence came from—I just didn’t want the opportunity to slip away. The editor was caught a little off-guard but kindly agreed to meet with me, under the guise of talking more about how my sample needed to be improved…but I had other plans.

In the week prior to our meeting, I spent my time carefully going through her suggestions and studying the series to see what I needed to fix. Then I worked hard to get my sample into shape. We didn’t end up having coffee—instead, we met in her office. She let me know that she was very busy and that I had just a few minutes to ask questions. Instead rehashing our previous discussion, I presented her my revised sample and politely asked her to look it over “just to make sure I was on the right track.” She was taken aback that I was so prepared. She read the first page and hired me on the spot.

When an opportunity arises, you have to be prepared to jump on it.

Seizing Opportunities vs. Being an Opportunist

2008-07-29T13:38:00.003-04:00

About ten years ago I did something that I still feel bad about.

A friend and colleague of mine had a meeting with some producers at MTV to pitch a show—it was quite a coup for him and he was very excited about the meeting. Instead of celebrating this success with him, I started thinking about how I could benefit from this meeting. After all, I had created a book series that had great potential as a TV show, and gee, it wasn’t every day that someone I knew was rubbing elbows with television producers. Even though I knew deep down that I was crossing the line, I asked him to bring along a copy of my series treatment and slip it to someone important when he had the chance.

Never mind that I was putting him on the spot. Never mind that he had his own pitch to worry about. Never mind that slipping my treatment to the producers could make him look unprofessional. Never mind that I was jeopardizing our friendship.

When he returned from the meeting, I asked him how it went. He said he didn’t have a chance to give my treatment to anyone. He couldn’t look me in the eye when he said this, which led me to believe that he had simply not chosen to do it. I was disappointed—and ashamed of my behavior.

When you start seeking out opportunities, it’s easy to get greedy. If you’re not careful, you can start seeing the people around you as commodities. There’s a fine line between seizing opportunities and being an opportunist; you need to be aggressive enough to kick doors open, but not so aggressive that you exploit people’s kindness and personal relationships. Here are a few guidelines to help you get ahead without stepping on any toes:

1) Information is free—action is not. One of the best ways to create opportunities is to ask questions. When successful people have the time, they are usually more than happy to share their expertise. Be polite, listen with true interest, and ask the right questions and you’d be surprised what opportunities can open up for you. Sometimes they might even offer to help you out in a more concrete way. If they don’t, it’s best not to ask for any favors. There are, of course, many exceptions— you just have to be able to read the person and the situation correctly. When in doubt, thank them for their time and be happy with the information you have.

2) Assume the other person’s time and resources are more valuable than yours. If you remember this rule, you are much more likely to approach any situation in a more generous frame of mind. Sure, you might be the next Jonathan Safran Foer, but you still need to assume that most people are too busy to talk to you—because most of them are. Rather than thinking, “You’ll want to help me because I’m going to be famous someday,” you should use phrases like, “I hope I’m not disturbing you…” or “Thank you for your time” or “If you have a moment to spare, I’d love to find out about…” Then be as brief and concise as possible. You don’t have to grovel—just be considerate.

3) If someone does you a favor, be accommodating. If they agree to a phone interview, call on time. If they agree to meet you in person, let them choose the time and place, and if your schedule is busy, move mountains to be there at the time that is best for them. If they agree to read your manuscript, give them as much time as they need.

4) If someone does you a favor, don’t ask for another. Once someone has helped you out, it may be tempting to squeeze just one more favor out of them. You have to be aggressive to get ahead, right? What will likely happen is that you’ll look greedy and may even come across as a bit of a pest, which will only backfire on you. Accept the favor and then search out other opportunities.

5) A little gratitude goes a long way. This may be the most important tip to remember. If you’re meeting in person, buy them lunch or a cup of coffee. Send thank you notes. Let them know that you appreciate what they’ve done.

The main goal of showing gratitude and consideration is to be respectful of others—the side benefit is that you will build a favorable impression and maybe even a lasting relationship. Arrogance closes doors, respect opens them.

Good Enough Opportunities

2008-07-24T20:32:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago I watched an episode of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and the show had me in fits. For the uninitiated, Ramsay is a famous chef and TV personality with restaurants all over the world, who swoops into troubled eateries and saves them from financial and culinary ruin. Ramsay’s style runs somewhere between foul-mouthed drill sergeant and exasperated life coach. With a little cleaning, some blunt advice, and a whole lot of free publicity, Ramsay usually manages to turn the restaurant around.

Not so with Piccolo Teatro, a tiny vegetarian restaurant in Paris, which was the subject of the episode that made me crazy. The restaurant was bleeding money, yet it appeared that no one was making any effort at all—not even with Chef Ramsay standing by and pointing out the problems. The cook was goofy and unprepared. The restaurant’s only waitress quit the second Ramsay criticized her. The owner, the worst offender of all, was lazy and had no authority. At times, it seemed as though she cared about saving her restaurant, and then she’d do something like stay home all day (without informing anyone) because she said her cat was having kittens. Instead of making an effort, she was full of excuses.

Despite revamping the menu, hiring a young, talented new chef, starting a lunch service and making the restaurant profitable again, even Ramsay couldn’t save Piccolo Teatro. When he returned to Paris a few weeks later for a follow-up, he discovered that the owner had closed the restaurant.

Arrrrgggghhhh!!!!!!

It seems inconceivable that someone with so many great opportunities, with a road map to success spelled out explicitly, would just throw it all away. I can’t begin to speculate as to her reasons for giving up, but I do know that some people are so afraid of success or failure that they’ll sabotage every opportunity that comes their way, sometimes without even consciously knowing it. I truly believe that what separates successful people from the rest of the pack is not talent or money or connections—it’s hard work, perseverance, and most of all the ability to seize opportunities, no matter how small.

When I moved to New York City from a small town in Maine, I hardly knew anyone. I was 22 and timid, largely unfamiliar with city life, and had no connections. I had just enough money to last in New York but a few months. I knew my time was limited there. I also knew that if I went back home right away, my chances of having a career in the publishing business would be zip. Back home, I had been offered a great position in sales by someone who had seen me working at my summer job. The offer included a car and a great salary, and the security of being in familiar territory. All I had to do was say the word and the job was mine. The problem was, this opportunity didn’t coincide with my goal of working in publishing and becoming a writer. I was scared to be in New York, but the thought of giving up on my goals—without giving it a real try—was even scarier.

I made a promise to myself that whatever publishing opportunity came along I would take it, no matter what. It didn’t have to be a perfect opportunity, just a good enough opportunity. I didn’t have resources to wait for something perfect, which may or may not have materialized, anyway.

I found my first job through the New York Times’ classifieds. The position was for a file clerk in the accounting office of a small literary agency. It paid very little. I wasn’t sure I could handle the accounting they wanted me to do. It wasn’t a perfect opportunity (or so I thought at the time) but it was good enough. Jump in first, I told myself, and figure out the rest as it comes. I had nothing to lose.

I wasn’t there but five months when I co-worker told me about one of the agency’s clients—a company that packaged book series for teenagers. She told me they needed ghostwriters. That’s all I needed to hear. I asked around and got more information about the process. I made a phone call. I wasn’t really interested in writing books for teenagers, but I was interested in writing, period. Good enough.

Within a few weeks I had my first ghostwriting contract and was writing at night in addition to my day job. My income doubled and I was leading a comfortable existence in New York. Soon I was writing, building valuable contacts, learning everything I could about the publishing industry, and writing books along the way. Good enough opportunities turned out to be perfect opportunities. I ended up spending six productive and fun years in the city, and used all that I learned along the way to get my first adult novel published.

And as far as Kitchen Nightmares goes, the episode did end on bit of a bright note. Even though Piccolo Teatro closed, Gordon Ramsay saw tons of potential in the young chef he had hired for the restaurant, and offered her a new job in one of his own kitchens. I’m happy to say that she jumped at the opportunity.

White Noise

2008-07-23T13:32:00.004-04:00

Vacations are a bit of a paradox for writers. We want a mental break from our usual obsessing so we opt for a change of scene or carve out a bit of quiet time for ourselves, but in doing so we often inadvertently stir our creative juices.

This happened to me on my recent vacation. My goal was to forget about the never ending pile of work waiting for me at home, get caught up on some badly needed sleep, and enjoy lots of uninterrupted time with my family. I gave myself permission to forget about writing for the week—a little relief from the constant self-imposed pressure to produce.

Before my vacation, I had felt as though my well had run dry. Creating was a forced activity, instead of a natural one. But as soon as I managed to find a few quiet moments to myself, I was surprised to find ideas quickly coming to the surface. Without any conscious effort, dialogue and narration started flowing. It was very strange; it was almost as if the story was playing low on a crackly radio station and only when I stopped long enough to listen I was able to tune into what was being said.

It struck me that maybe part of us is always creating and that creativity is the background noise of our daily lives. How comforting to know it is always there, quietly waiting for us. All we have to do is sit still enough to hear it.

Book Launch 2.0

2008-07-17T18:56:00.002-04:00

For those of you who have published, I'm sure you've had this conversation. For all aspiring authors out there, some day you will.

Thanks to Pat for the link.

Living the Dream: An Update on Patrick Robbins

2008-06-30T12:56:00.005-04:00

Back in April I told you about my friend from college, Patrick Robbins, who had just completed his MFA and was going off into the wilderness to live in an Airstream trailer and write his first novel. I was a little concerned for his sanity, but as it turns out, the experiment has been a tremendous success. Not only has he been tremendously disciplined, he’s managed to write the complete first draft of his novel in just 54 days!

Periodically, I’ll be checking in with Patrick to follow his process from creation to publication. I have no doubt his work will find an audience; Patrick is funny, sharp, and has a unique point of view. I caught up with him last week to see how things were going.

How's life in isolation? Are you cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs yet?

No more so than before. Truth be told, it's not as Waldenesque as you may be picturing it - we couldn't get the Airstream into the woods, what with the ground being too soft and the maneuverability issues, so instead it's parked out behind the family barn. I come up to the house for lunch, dinner, bathroom stuff, and Internet usage (on a glacial dial-up connection). So I get to interact with humans on a fairly consistent basis.

One of my friends sent me an email where he asked me, "Do you get lonely?" I gave him the above assurances, then added, "Frankly, I don't have the time to get lonely." I'm too involved with the book I'm writing, and with the people in it. Maybe when it's finished...

What's your daily routine like?

I arise sometime between 6 and 7, depending on how cloudy it is (my window faces the east), and have two granola bars, a yogurt, and a multivitamin (I've got one of those Playmate coolers to keep things cold in). Up to the house to clean my teeth and everything outside of them. My mom and I then go on a three to five-mile walk - I live on a dirt road, so it's a nice and natural way to get my brain from second gear into fourth. Back at the house, I fill a 64-ounce mug with water, topped off with just a little something sweet for flavor (cider's good, ginger ale's not). By now it's between 9 and 10, and I start to writing.

Come noon, I knock off for an hour for lunch and a look at email and postage mail. Then it's back to it at one, with another giant mug of water. (Yes, that's a gallon of water a day, for those keeping track at home.) During the school year, my nephew, who's twelve, would get dropped off here at 2:30 to wait for his mom to come pick him up; he often came down to the trailer, which usually spelled an end to my writing day. If he didn't, I could go right through to dinnertime. After that, I generally read until there's insufficient daylight (no electricity in the trailer), usually around 8:30, and then go to bed. It can take a long time to get back down into first gear, but I'd say I'm usually asleep by ten.

Have you been productive?

Some days more than others, but overall, absolutely yes. I made a habit of starting every day by writing down the date, right next to whatever the last word was I wrote the day before; that way, by the time I put the pen down, I could see exactly how much writing I'd done that day. Three pages a day was good. My record was six. One day I only got two lines. But I put an awful lot of thought into what was going to be happening to the characters, so I consider that a productive day too. There's a great story about Truman Capote: the writer Robert Ruark said to him, "I wrote five thousand words today, Truman, and I bet you sat there at that desk with your quill pen and wrote one word." Truman said, "Yes, Robert, but it was the right word."

Are you writing it all out by hand or using a computer?

The first draft is done entirely by hand. I find that I can't be creative through a machine; it's got to flow from my mind straight to the page. To Make Others Happy was written out in a beautiful six by eight blank book my older sister got for me one Christmas many years ago; I've been waiting for a worthwhile project to use it for, and this was it. I should note here that my penmanship is quite small; I was able to get an average of 35 lines of writing on a page, maybe 600 words. So to rephrase what I said above, 1800 words a day was good, and my record was 3600. That's all guesswork; I'll know the exact figures once I type it.

And speaking of typing, that's where the second draft comes in. While I can't create so well through a machine, I can do the mechanical and analytical work that's so necessary. So I'll type it out on my laptop, making edits and plugging holes as I go.

Did you outline the story first or wing it?

I wrote an outline on about fifty three by five cards. It took a week and a half to do that. The funny thing was, I didn't know what the ending would be, or where - I just kept writing what happened next. And then one day I realized I only needed three or four more cards and I'd be done. It reminded me of the riddle asking how far you could run into the woods. The answer: halfway; after that you're running out. I had thought I was going deeper and deeper, when in fact I was well on my way to emerging.

I kept the outline very loose, mostly plot points - like, one card said "Chase and Bethany go on a date." Sometimes as I wrote the book, I'd think of something that should be said or done somewhere down the line, and I'd write it on the appropriate card. Nothing on the cards was sacred, either - Bethany's name was changed to Nadine, for instance. And with some cards, especially the later ones, I'd look at what I'd written and say, "No, he wouldn't do that." Once you've lived with your characters for a while, you know them a lot better than you did starting out. But overall, those cards were immeasurably helpful for me; they helped me balance out my characters' onstage time, they gave me a place to write sudden inspirations, and they assured me that I knew where I was going.

Funnily enough, I never use cards when writing short stories; there, I'll take a premise and follow it wherever it goes. But for a novel, I had to have that pathway in front of me.

What was the jumping off point that got the story rolling for you?

TO MAKE OTHERS HAPPY has its origins in a series of Peanuts comic strips that has intrigued me for decades. Lucy asks Charlie Brown why we're put here on Earth, and without hesitation he says "To make others happy." It's an answer that stays with her for several days. (I won't give away the rest, but you can find the originals in The Complete Peanuts 1961-1962; they're in mid-August of '61, I think.)

One day I was thinking about the strip and what someone who makes others happy could be called, and the phrase "joy facilitator" came to mind. The contrast of such a strong emotion with such a clinical word really stayed with me, wouldn't leave me alone. I thought of someone passing out business cards with the phrase "joy facilitator" on them, on how his business would work, on what might endanger it - a novel's got to have conflict, right? The more I thought about it, the more pieces of the puzzle I had, until I had so many that I had to start fitting them into place.

Now that you have the first draft done in record time, what's the next step?

Now it's time to type it, making all the revisions I can see it needs. Then I'll have a few people read it and tell me what they think works and what doesn't, and then I'll revise some more. It's fun to know that I can write a novel in fifty-four days, but the more important question is, how long does it take me to write a good novel?

How much longer do you plan to live in the trailer?

I think my brother in law will want it back around October. I wouldn't want to stay in it much longer than that anyway; back in May I had to wear a wool hat to bed on account of those 40-degree nights. It'll be interesting to see what happens after that.

Do you have an agent lined up?

No. I want to have something tangible and complete to pass along. If I write a good query letter, get a response of interest, and then send out something that's not my best work... I don't even want to think about it. So I'll only go agent-hunting when I think what I have is agent-worthy. My hope is that that won't be too long from now.

I can't wait to read your novel.

I can't wait for you to buy a copy! (Just kidding, Steph - for you, the first one's free.)

Ghostwriting Part V--Inside a Ghosting Job

2008-06-27T14:14:00.002-04:00

We’ve finally reached the last installment of the ghostwriting series. Let’s get this over with so we can move on to something a bit more interesting, shall we?

Once you land a work-for-hire agreement with the series of your choosing, your editor may hand you a packet which contains a series bible, a few story outlines, and a book or two. The series bible tells you everything you need to know about the series thus far; major story arcs, important backstories, physical descriptions and names of all the characters and places, relationship details and personalities. It’s important to know this info inside and out. I would also recommend reading as many books in the series as you can handle so you can thoroughly digest the tone and style. It will make your work much easier.

The outlines you are likely to be given are the outline for the book you've been hired to write, plus the outline of the book that comes before yours in the series and the outline for the book that comes after yours. These outlines can run somewhere around ten or twenty pages and hit the major plot points of the story. They are sometimes written by the creator of the series, and sometimes they are written by an editor, who then shows it to the creator for approval. You are not allowed to deviate from this outline, but luckily there is a lot of wiggle room with settings, transitions, and all the little nuances that take a ho-hum story and make it gripping.

When I was ghosting, I had six weeks to write my first draft. My outlines were around 20 pages or so and I was expected to flesh it out into a 250 page novel. I’m a pretty slow writer, so I found the deadline to be a challenge, but I always found a way to get my work done on time. As I mentioned before, ghosting for a series is a bit like riding an escalator—when one person stops at the bottom, it puts a lot of people in trouble. Be sure to respect your deadlines.

After turning in the first draft, my editor would take about a week or two to look the manuscript over. Then it was returned to me with comments. I would look over her notes and ask questions about anything that needed clarification, then I would have two weeks to make the corrections. Sometimes the changes were substantial; other times, they were minimal. If you do your work correctly, once you turn in the revised draft, that should be the end of it. If not, you might have to do a little more fixing, but this is usually pretty rare. Once the editor approves of the final manuscript, she will submit the approval to the accounting department so that you can receive the final installment of your advance.

That’s basically all there is to it. If you work well under pressure and don’t mind writing for teenagers, then I highly recommend using work-for-hire as a first step to a writing career. If you are professional and reliable, ghosting can open many doors. Over the years, several editors of mine have moved on to bigger and better things—one wrote a best-selling series of her own that became a movie. Developing good relationships, even at this level, can become beneficial later on when you have higher aspirations of your own.

Ghostwriting Part IV—Landing the Gig

2008-06-19T06:48:00.002-04:00

Finally, after weeks and weeks of waiting, the envelope you’ve been waiting for has arrived. Maybe it’s a rejection letter. Being rejected from a teen series might carry with it an extra bit of sting—you know you’re capable of writing gorgeous prose and meaningful stories, so you might be tempted to throw up your hands in disgust and say, “What do they know? I can write a story a thousand times better than this junk.” Don’t let yourself become bitter. I assure you that the people working on these series are highly educated and are well-acquainted with good literature. What a rejection simply means is that you weren’t right for the part. As I mentioned before, hiring ghostwriters is a lot like finding actors for a movie. If you were a casting director, would you have given the role of Forrest Gump to Al Pacino? Probably not. Several years ago, I tried out for a series (after having thirteen teen novels under my belt, mind you) and was rejected. Even though I had a lot of experience, my writing was deemed not edgy enough. That was fine by me—I have no interest in being edgy.

Instead of a rejection, you might get a personal letter encouraging you to re-submit your sample or even try out for another series. This is what happened to me when I tried out for my first ghosting job. The editor thought I had potential, but my sample wasn’t quite up to par. I wasted no time finding out what my weaknesses were and re-submitted the sample within a week. As soon as she received the revised sample, I was hired on the spot.

Maybe you won’t be rejected at all the first time around and instead you'll get a call from the editor. Congratulations--they’d like to hire you to write for the series. You are thrilled—you’re also scared out of your mind. Take a deep breath, enjoy the moment…and brace yourself because you have a lot of work to do in a short period of time.

Before I get into the writing side of things in my next post, let’s cover the business side first. This will be one of the very few times you’ll hear me say this, but you don’t need an agent. That’s because work-for-hire contracts are pretty much set in stone. The pay scale and royalties (if there are any) are pre-determined. Series are run on tight budgets and there is little room, if any, for negotiation. Newbies are given a set price. If you like ghosting and want to do it regularly, my advice would be to write at least three books before asking for more money. At that point, if you proven yourself to be professional and indispensable, you should have no trouble getting bumped up to a higher advance. Other than that, there’s nothing else to negotiate that you can’t handle on your own. It’s generally a take-it-or-leave-it proposition.

When you accept your first work-for-hire job, you'll probably be offered a one-book contract. This is a good thing. It’s better not to be locked into anything the first time around, just in case you discover that ghosting isn’t right for you. After that, I would recommend not signing up for more than three books at a time, which equals about six months of work. You never know what might crop up in your personal or professional life, and it’s best not to be tied down for too long.

Upon receiving your contract, read it thoroughly. It will be short and straightforward. Pay attention to the word count required and mark the deadlines on your calendar. Series deadlines are critical. Imagine that the series is an escalator and the writers are the passengers. If someone suddenly stops at the bottom, everyone is in trouble. Ghosting is an opportunity to establish your reputation as a professional writer. Act accordingly.

Finally, put your advance check in the bank until your manuscript has been accepted. Work-for-hire agreements—especially your first—are more fickle than the average book deal. It’s better to hold onto the advance until you’re sure it’s going to work out than to scramble to return money you’ve already spent.

Ghostwriting Part III—The Audition

2008-06-14T20:39:00.004-04:00

Before I continue with my series on ghostwriting, I’d just like to I apologize for the sudden infrequency of my posts. Family life has been overtaking my writing life in a big way lately, so I’m not posting as often as I’d like. Soon I hope to have a little more time for work, so thanks for your patience.

Now, onto the business at hand…

Trying out for a book series is a lot like auditioning for a role on a television show—even if you’re a terrific writer, you might not be suited for the part. You can, however, increase your odds of getting the job if you do your homework.

While you’re waiting to receive your guidelines from the publisher, it’s critical that you read at least two or three of the most recent books in the series. It won’t be difficult to get caught up in the action—most series are like soap operas, written so that it’s very easy to jump into the story—but what you’re really trying to do is absorb the style and tone of the series. Keep an eye out for key descriptions of places and characters which are often repeated from book to book. Notice how chapters start and end. Really study how the story is constructed, until you feel that you can almost predict how a character will react to a certain situation or person. Read until it becomes second nature to you.

The guidelines sent from the publisher might contain an outline of a book that is currently being written. Depending on what they require, you might be asked to write a chapter from that outline. If you’ve done the reading I’ve mentioned above, the audition chapter will be much easier. If you haven’t, expect to trudge through it, stopping to look up details along the way.

When writing your sample, keep in mind that the goal is to make your work blend in as much as possible with the series. Avoid showing off. Save the verbal acrobatics and large vocabulary for your own personal writing. What’s really going to wow the editors is your knowledge of the series and the smoothness of the storytelling. Dialogue is key; every character should have a different way of speaking. Conversation is often short and snappy and heavy on banter, but always moving forward toward a plot point.

The single most impressive thing you can do when writing an audition sample is to cultivate an air of suspense. Series rely on hooks to keep their readers interested and you should show the editors that you know this. The best ways to build suspense are to reveal information slowly—feeding the reader little bits as you go—and constantly raising questions that must be answered. Ideally, every chapter should end with a question that begs to be answered and so should your writing sample. Keep the editors wanting more and maybe you'll find yourself with a writing gig.

Next: What happens once you land the job.

As I Remember It...

2008-06-06T13:49:00.002-04:00

I still have a few things to cover regarding ghostwriting, but today I thought I’d take a break to remind everyone that David Sedaris’s new book, WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES came out this week. Sedaris is one of the most consistently funny writers I’ve ever read. For those of you who haven’t discovered “Jesus Shaves” in ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY, I urge you to check it out. For some reason, every time I read that story I end up calling up one of my friends to read it out loud to them--only I end up laughing so hard I can never get through it. I’m really looking forward to adding his latest work to my bookshelf.

There’s a piece by Steve Daly on Sedaris in this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly, in which the topic of fabrication in memoirs is discussed. Sedaris defends his right to exaggeration as a humorist, but Daly writes that the backlash against artistic license in memoirs has perhaps led him to sprinkle in some qualifiers like “in my memory” and “as I remember it”. This saddens me a little. Humor sometimes lies in the conviction with which the story is told, and I worry that this softening of language will ever so slightly dilute his work. I’ll have to read it and to find out.

Ever since James Frey’s public flogging on Oprah, there has been a hypersensitivity surrounding the truthfulness of memoirs. Is all this fact-checking really necessary? What’s at stake here? I understand that some people feel duped when they find out a memoir is partly manufactured, but it’s important to maintain a little perspective. These are not people we know personally. Their exaggerations cannot have a significant impact our lives. Memoirs should always be taken with a grain of salt.

Demanding that memoirs be 100% truthful AND entertaining at the same time is a tall order. Stories require pacing, structure, suspense, and conflict to keep us interested. Life is full of slow resolutions, loose ends, and rambling conversation. In order to shape a part of one’s life into a story, the memoirist must craft the story using time compression, the merging of stories or people for simplicity’s sake, and the editing of verbal exchanges. Plus, there is always the problem of accurate memory. The resulting work, while playing fast and loose with the individual details, usually paints a version of the truth as a whole, according to the writer’s point of view—which is precisely the point of the memoir. As we all know, truth is fluid by nature, depending on each person’s observation of a situation.

For those of you who remain convinced that a memoir should be rigidly factual, try this exercise. Write an entertaining, engaging, artful story about some event that happened to you five years ago, not forgetting to include precise dialogue. I think you’ll find the exercise to be nearly impossible to complete without some embellishment.

Ghostwriting Part II: How to Land a Gig

2008-06-02T13:05:00.002-04:00

Browse through the middle-grade or teen sections of any bookstore and you’ll find all kinds of series in every genre imaginable. Some series are published every single month for years on end, adding up to a staggering number of books. Are these books the work of a single, hyper-prolific insomniac? Not likely. Some are started with the best of intentions, with a single writer who writes maybe the first twelve books or so. Other series are merely created, only to have the grunt work farmed out from the get-go. Either way, most series are written by a rotating team of ghostwriters.

And this is where you come in. There is a very high turnover for ghostwriters, which means publishers are always looking for new talent. Writers-for-hire are a fickle sort, chasing down multiple jobs, flitting from one project to the next, launching their own work. This means that on any given series, there might be a job waiting for you.

The first step is to find a series that appeals to you. Let's say you’re not into teen fiction, but love science fiction--find something with that slant. Read a few books from the series. Is this something you can see yourself writing? If not, move on to something else. You have to find yourself interested in the series to some degree or your writing won’t ring true and the work will feel more like a job than a joy.

Once you’ve found a series you like, look at the copyright page. On it, you’ll see the publishing company and its address. All you have to do is write to the publisher (this is one of those few times when I’ll recommend contacting a publisher directly) and request the series guidelines, which is essentially an audition packet. Your letter for requesting the guidelines is simple:

Dear So-and-So:

I’m interested in writing for X series. Please send your guidelines to the following address. I’ve included a self-addressed, stamped envelope for your convenience.

That’s all. You don’t need to write a full-fledged query proclaiming your virtues—that will come later. I would write ATTN: X Series on the envelope to expedite the process.

Sometimes you’ll see another company listed with the publisher on the copyright page. This is the packager. In this case, you’d want to write your request to the packager instead of the publisher. A packager is a company that puts together many different series—from the acquisition of the series ideas, to the hiring of ghostwriters, to the editing and book design. Basically, a packager IS the publisher, and the publisher becomes the printer and distributor. It’s a little confusing, but the point is that you’ll have to write the above letter to the packager instead. What’s great about working with a packager is that if you develop a good relationship with the editors it can lead to many writing jobs for different series. You may also get the chance to pitch ideas for your own series.

Next time—how to "audition" for a series.

Super Ghostwriter--Part I

2008-05-21T16:06:00.002-04:00

Let’s re-open that age-old superhero debate that for some reason never grows tired—if you could have the power of invisibility or the power of flight, which would you choose? If you said invisibility (the right answer, by the way), and you are also trying to figure out how to break into the publishing business, then you might want to consider ghostwriting.

I spent most of my 20’s moonlighting as a ghostwriter for a series of popular teen books. The pay was decent (but not enough to live on), the schedule was rigorous, and the glory was minimal. But I learned a hell of a lot about discipline, cultivated relationships with editors, developed a reputation as a professional person, and came to understand quite a bit about the business. After six years of ghosting, I felt as though I had learned just as much about writing as I had in college, and was equipped to develop and sell my own teen series.

In order to be a good ghostwriter, you have to be comfortable with invisibility. Your writing must be seamless, conforming into a pre-determined style to execute a story that someone else created. You have to understand that you are merely fulfilling someone else’s vision and that they will get all of the glory and most of the money. You must love the product as though it were your own, because readers can smell insincerity from a mile away.

Even within the strict framework of ghostwriting, there plenty of opportunities for creativity. As long as the dialogue is consistent with the character, it’s all yours. You may be given major plot points, but there is often a lot of leeway as to how you get from point A to point B.

And even being invisible has its moments of quiet glory. Once I was in a bookstore, loitering in the teen section to see “my” book on the shelves and I saw a girl looking at a copy. She read a little and decided to buy it. A small part of me wanted to tap her on the shoulder and tell her I wrote it (as if she’d believe me) but I didn’t. It was thrilling enough to know someone was about to read my words.

In my next few posts, I’ll talk about what a ghosting job is like and how to go about getting one of your own. It’s easier than you might think.

Ish

2008-05-19T14:25:00.002-04:00

I just came across this great children’s book published in 2004 entitled ISH, by Peter H. Reynolds. It’s such a great testament to the creative process that I just had to give it a mention.

The story is about a boy named Ramon who loved to draw. One day, Ramon draws a vase of flowers and when his big brother sees the picture he laughs at him. Ramon is understandably upset, and from that moment on, he has trouble drawing. Everything he draws doesn’t look right anymore and he throws them all away.

So, after trying for months to make his drawings look “right”, he decides to give up. He soon discovers that his sister has been taking all of his discarded drawings and taping them to the walls of her room. She points to the vase of flowers that Leon laughed at and says it’s her favorite. Ramon complains that it doesn’t look like a vase of flowers. His sister says, “Well, it looks vase-ISH.” Ramon agrees, seeing his work in a new light.

Suddenly, Ramon feels his creative juices flowing again. Instead of trying to draw perfect reproductions of the world around him, he starts to relax and draw “ish-ly”. His work becomes comfortably abstract. He finds his style.

One morning he wakes up with a feeling that can’t be captured and decides to just enjoy the feeling instead of drawing it. And as the story ends, he “…lives ishfully ever after.”

I won’t belabor the points the story is making, but here are a few things I’m taking from it:

1) Art is subjective. So obvious, but so easy to forget. It’s a given that some people will love your work and others will hate it. Don’t be discouraged when they do.

2) Don’t strive for perfection. It can be paralyzing. Give yourself permission to experiment and fail. Instead of trying to nail it right away (which is an all-or-nothing pursuit), strive to get ever closer and closer to your goal.

3) The process is just as important as the outcome. ‘Nuff said. And don’t feel that you have to turn everything into art. Sometimes it’s good to just sit back and enjoy life.

Knowing When to Stop

2008-05-14T15:10:00.004-04:00

I just received a nice e-mail from a fellow blogger who describes herself as someone who has spent nearly four years working obsessively on a single screenplay, writing and re-writing it in various genres. Without knowing very much about her or the screenplay it’s hard to judge if all this re-working is necessary—it very well could be. But her situation did get me thinking about a question that all artists are forced to answer at some point: When is it done?

While I’m a firm believer in meticulous and sometimes drastic revisions, there comes a point in the creative process where re-writing produces nothing but diminishing returns. Perhaps you dwell too long on your choices, changing a word here and there, over and over again but not adding any real meaning or quality to the work. Maybe you hack the piece to death repeatedly every time you’ve found yourself stuck, hoping a new approach will help you find what’s missing. Or maybe you’re like Grady Tripp, in Michael Chabon’s WONDER BOYS, who just keeps writing and writing until he has a 2,600 page manuscript with no end in sight. No matter what the problem is, there comes a time when you have to think about letting go.

Unfortunately, writing is so subjective that there’s no definitive way of knowing when a piece is finished. There is no such thing as perfection, so one could argue that there is always room from improvement. That said, if the story is solid and the voice is clear and you’ve re-read the piece for mistakes, it’s fair to say it’s ready to send out. Don’t fret about a word here and there. If you use that as an excuse, you’re doing nothing but procrastinating.

If your story runs on and on with no end in sight, it’s time to take stock. Three things could be happening: 1) You love your story so much you can’t bear to see it end 2) Your self-worth is so tied-up in this project that you’ll be devastated when it’s over, or 3) You took a wrong turn somewhere and kept going when you should have ended it.

The third reason is easy enough to remedy; just find the point in the story where it should have naturally ended. The other two reasons are a little more complicated. I would suggest a trial separation. Put the piece away for at least three months. Give yourself a chance to fall in love with a new story. If you invest your energy in something else, you’ll have more clarity when you return.

Finally, if you’ve tried every which way to make a piece work and it’s still not happening, it might be time to call it quits. Perhaps, somewhere down the road, you can return to it again and you’ll have no trouble seeing the problem. Or, better still, there are probably a few parts that are worth salvaging, pieces you can take away from the story to create something new. It’s painful to give up when you’ve invested so much emotion, time and energy, but even with the best of intentions, but the truth is that sometimes stories just don’t work. Sometimes you’re better off just letting go.

Separating Life and Art

2008-05-12T18:53:00.006-04:00

There’s a woman at M.J. Rose’s blog, Buzz, Balls, & Hype, who’s afraid her creativity has gotten out of control. Her vivid imagination compels her to project scenarios onto real-life events until they are blown way out of proportion, leaving her anxious and emotionally drained. In essence, she has trouble separating her personal life from creative life.

This woman’s plight reminded me of a story I heard many years ago about a certain famous singer/performance artist who also had trouble separating real life from art. The artist’s teenage son was in the hospital, critically ill, and according to the story (if it is to be believed), the artist brought in a tape player to record the sounds of his respirator, which she thought would make a good addition to the piece she was working on.

The artist’s story is an appalling example of the inability to separate work from reality, and yet, who among us hasn’t done the same thing to a lesser degree? We all mine our lives and relationships for creative material, whether consciously or unconsciously. Likewise, I would venture to say that most of us are also like the woman in the first example, who let her imagination run amok in real life. It’s no coincidence that there are high rates of hypochondria, depression, and addiction among creative people.

Mining for material and creative projection are two sides of the same coin. Perhaps we mine the lives of the ones we love because we don’t trust our ability to come up with interesting material on our own. Likewise, we dream up terrifying scenarios when reality isn’t quite as interesting as our fiction. Both are rooted in fear.

Such habits are destructive to our art and to our lives. It is important to make a clear distinction between work and reality, making certain that they don’t mix. That means refusing to see our family and friends as potential characters, even when their stories seem more outrageous than fiction. It also means being present in our relationships and not allowing ourselves to take mental notes of our conversations with others for use later. It’s fine to be inspired by the people and events in our lives, but reality ought to be used only as a jumping off point and not a direct source of material.

Some writers believe that there is nothing more important than the work; that finding “truth” is paramount, even at the expense of others. I would argue that nothing is more important than how we treat other people. If our work suffers because we refuse to exploit others, then so be it.

Signing Off

2008-05-07T14:49:00.003-04:00

I have a book signing coming up in another month, and I have to admit that already I’m starting to dread it. The signing is part of my college reunion weekend, which means it’ll be filled with friendly faces and old friends, but still I’m feeling a bit nervous. Book signings, for an unknown writer, are exercises in humiliation.

Please don’t get me wrong. I love being a writer and I’m absolutely grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to be published. For those of you about to embark on your first book tour, or those who will in the future, please understand that I’m not trying to scare you. All I’m doing is setting expectations, so that when you have a reading or signing of your own that is less than stellar, you’ll know that it happens to everyone. Think of it as a rite of passage.

One book that I think all writers should read before their first book signing is MORTIFICATION edited by Robin Robertson. It’s a collection of essays from famous writers about their most horrific book tour experiences. The book is incredibly fun—both cringe-worthy and hilarious at the same time. Who would have guessed that Margaret Atwood was forced to sign copies of THE EDIBLE WOMAN in the men’s underwear department of a store early in her career? Or that Matthew Sweeney had a loose tooth fly out of his mouth during a reading and the audience scrambled to find it under the seats? Or that some famous, unnamed American novelist had to rush off stage during a reading to throw up in the bathroom, only to leave her lapel microphone on so that the entire audience could hear her retching in the bathroom? You have to read this, my fellow writers—if not for the schadenfreude, than at least for the knowledge that you are in good company.

My own book tour horror stories aren’t quite as bad by comparison, but were humiliating enough at the time. Now I just think of them as funny stories from the trenches. In the spirit of fun, I submit the following:

It’s Not The Firm.
A man came up to me and asked me a few questions about my book. I was grateful for this—I was nearly an hour into my signing and no one had approached my table, let alone made eye contact with me. He grabbed a copy of the book, sat down on the floor beside my table, and spent the next twenty minutes reading the entire first chapter. He laughed so hard he started drawing attention to the table. Finally, when he was done, he handed the book back to me and said, “It’s not my type of thing—I only read John Grisham.”

Make Mine Extra-Crispy
One of my signings was at a bookstore/gift shop in a resort town. Instead of having a table in the book department, I was given a very small child-sized desk to set up my display—in the gift department. The reasoning was that I’d be more visible, which was fine, but it was also a little odd to be sitting next to displays of lollipops, super balls, and a barrel of (I’m NOT joking) rubber chickens. The signing was scheduled during the dinner hour, which meant the store was completely empty most of the time. Time ticked by so slowly. To keep myself busy, I rearranged toys and did my best to make the rubber chickens look enticing.

When I returned home after the signing, I dashed off an e-mail to my publicist to tell her about the signing. I thought the whole rubber chicken thing was funny, but I guess it didn’t come across in the tone of my note. Without my knowledge, my publicist complained to the bookstore that I shouldn’t have had to sign next to rubber chickens (can you just imagine this conversation?). I didn’t find out, of course, until the following week when I had to do a signing at another branch of the same bookstore chain. The manager introduced herself, handed me a rubber chicken key chain and said, “A little something for you to remember us by.”

Doesn’t Radio Count for Something?
A man once asked me if I’d ever been on television. When I said no, he moved on to the author at the next table and asked him the same question. He said yes, and without even looking at the book, the man bought a copy.

Not Much.
A number of people have asked me to sign a book, telling me they had no intention of reading it but wanted to see how much it would fetch on e-bay.

If You Buy a Book, I Can Go to the Beach
I postponed my family’s vacation by a day to participate in a book festival. I felt a little guilty about it, but fifty authors were signing at the event and it seemed like a great opportunity. When I arrived, I made my way past tables with stacks and stacks of books, looking for my signing table. After making three loops around the tent with no luck, I asked one of the coordinators to help me. It took a lot of searching, but we finally found the table. It was in plain sight—the problem was there were no books. Out of fifty authors, mine was the only publisher that neglected to ship my books. What’s worse is that I knew this sort of thing happened from time to time and usually carried a spare box of extra copies with me just in case, but in the midst of packing for vacation I had forgotten bring it. Somehow the coordinator managed to scare up three copies, and I spent the first day of what was supposed to be our vacation at a very empty table, trying to convince people to buy my three measly copies. It took all day.

Who Can Afford a Stylist?
A woman looked at my author picture on the back of the book, then looked at me, then looked back at the book. She then said, “You don’t look a thing like your picture--it’s amazing what stylists can do!” She then proceeded to list the reasons why she wouldn’t be buying my book, which included that she had just bought a muffin and that she was saving to send her son to college.

Smile, You’re Getting Paid
On a rainy Saturday afternoon I gave a reading at (another) empty bookstore. [Side note: Bookstores are always embarrassed when there’s a low turnout—usually they say the time of day, the weather, and other extenuating factors are to blame. And while you’d love to believe them, you just know that if Stephen King were making an appearance, there’d be a line down the block.] The emptiness of the store was emphasized by the ten rows of chairs they had optimistically set-up. Just before I was about to despair that I’d have to stand and read to no one, four hip-looking kids took seats in the back row. I’d wished they had sat a little closer so I wouldn’t have to shout, but what the heck. It was great to have an audience.

During the reading, I kept looking up at the kids. They looked like college students, maybe even writing students. They were listening, but with bored affectation. I could tell they wanted edgy—like a Chuck Palahniuk gross-out that would have them scrambling for the bathroom—but all I had to offer them was old-fashioned subtlety. The jokes that usually got a laugh were met with stares. I kept expecting them to take off in the middle of the reading but they stuck around, leaving me to wonder why on earth they were there.

When I was done, I asked if anyone had any questions about the book or the writing process. Not a peep, a smile, or a nod from the back row. I told them I’d be happy to sign a copy of the book if they were interested. Having been dismissed, the kids got up and started shelving books. They were employees.

An Interview with Judy Sheehan

2008-05-01T14:24:00.003-04:00

I had the pleasure of meeting Judy Sheehan at a panel reading for young authors at Book Expo America a few years ago. She stole the show as she read an excerpt from her first novel, AND BABY MAKES TWO. Actually, she didn’t read the story so much as she performed it, using different voices for each character and delivering the lines with perfect comedic timing. It came as no surprise when I learned of her theatre background: Judy was one of the original cast members/creators of the long-running, off-Broadway hit, Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding.

Judy decided ultimately that acting wasn’t for her, but went on to be an accomplished playwright. She became the playwright-in-residence at New York’s prestigious Looking Glass Theatre. One of her plays, Alice in Ireland, has been produced all over the United States and has won several awards. She has also created a series of musicals for children.

Eight years ago, Judy traveled to China to adopt a child. Her experiences as an adoptive mom and single parent informed her first novel, AND BABY MAKES TWO. I found the story to be laugh-out-loud funny and very poignant. Now, with the release of her second novel, WOMEN IN HATS, Judy has decided to tackle another subject close to her heart—the theatre.

SD: In this blog I’ve discussed the difficulty some writers have getting themselves to sit down and write. Do you struggle with discipline?

JS: Yes – you can tell when I’m getting ready to write because my house is immaculate and my laundry is done. Sometimes, I’ll do all that stuff and more, before I sit down to write. I’m very resourceful when it comes to not writing. But I’ve developed a few tricks to force my sense of discipline towards writing. First, I have to retreat to a wifi café, rather than write at home. I can distract myself with tea and something to eat (I have a manic need for a chocolate chip cookie when I write). Getting myself fed takes a little while, but it doesn’t require nearly as much time as cleaning the bathroom. When I’m home, I can find a million distractions, while the anonymity of the crowd at the wifi café forces me to focus on my work.

Next trick: my iPod. I have a playlist that is designed to serve as musical wallpaper for writing. I’ll pick a song that gets me started, and then have an almost Pavlovian response to it, so that I have to put my fingers on the keyboard and get to work. It also adds to that isolation that I need so that I can have tunnel vision between me and the screen.

My final trick: I don’t start writing, I start re-writing. I’ve heard lots of people say that you should just keep moving forward through a book, but I break that rule. I’ll go back to yesterday’s writing and revise what I did. It gives me a kind of traction to get me going. And it’s slightly less intimidating than starting on a fresh blank page.

SD: Is your approach different when you are writing a play versus a novel? Are plays easier because you’re just writing dialogue or are they harder because of it?

JS: Novels have felt infinitely harder for me—which really makes me wonder why I’ve taken them up. Plays require me to leave room for collaboration with actors, directors, and so on. I have lots of room to set them up, but I never want to restrict them or narrow their contribution. I certainly don’t want to make a good play sound like it’s easy to write—it isn’t. But a novel works at a much higher level of difficulty.

The weirdest part for me here is each book seems to get harder. The first book was tied enough to my own life that I absolutely knew where I was going. The second book was a mash-up of two plays (new math – 1 play + 1 play = 1 novel) and I had a clue about the road I was traveling, although I did get lost a few times. The third book, which is currently in progress, is the biggest challenge yet. I’m not completely confident that I’ll survive this one.

SD: I’m assuming one of the inspirations for this book was the play you wrote by the same name.

JS: That play absolutely inspired this one, and the play itself was based on watching a friend of mine direct a play many years ago. This was to be his break into commercial, big-time theater, whereas he had been more of a fringe, not-for-profit guy up until then. The play was an unmitigated disaster in every way. He called me in to doctor the script, but the playwright wouldn’t let anyone touch it. At the time, it was a nightmare, but we both laugh about it now.

But I also wove in the story of another play, Alice in Ireland, which has a darker feel to it. Leigh takes on a lot of Alice’s mother issues. Bridie Hart, Leigh’s mother, came from that play. At this point, I feel that I know Bridie so well, I could write any scene or situation for her, and know exactly how she’d behave. Bridie is a good time.

SD: In AND BABY MAKES TWO, the main character, Jane, struggles to achieve her dream of becoming a mother. In WOMEN IN HATS, Leigh Majors (hilarious character name, by the way) has to contend with her difficult and very famous mother in order to make her dreams come true. Are these two books companion pieces?

JS: Not really, but it’s becoming clear to me that I have mother issues! Mother-daughter is one of the most wonderful, pain-in-the-ass, overwhelming and important relationships we have, and it offers such a wide array of stories to tell. I’m the tenth of twelve children, and my mother seemed to be a force of nature. She died almost ten years ago, and it seems as if she’s now passing into legend. Maybe she has turned out to be my muse. The book I’m writing now has four generations of women and girls in the same family, so I’m taking the whole mother issue to a new level.

SD: Your work deals with issues that confront the modern woman: single motherhood, finding the courage to break out of one’s comfort zone, perfectionism and fear of failure. You let us feel that it’s ok not to live up to impossible standards, which is something women don’t hear enough of.

JS: I hope that this is true. I hope that the women I write about are flawed, but brave and very recognizable. As the author, I have to live with these women for a long time, so I have to like them. If they intimidate me, I don’t want to spend a lot of time with them. Essentially, I’m just writing for myself, I suppose. Leigh and Jane have very different stories, but they both end up thawing from their sort of rigid state at the start of the book to a warmer, messier state at the end. That’s a more fun place to be.

SD: I love the way you are able to make a story both funny and poignant at the same time. Is humor something you purposely use to maintain a sense of levity, or is it a natural extension of your voice?

JS: When I was growing up, humor was really the coin of the realm in our house. If you could make it funny, you could get away with murder. At this point, it’s almost an unconscious choice for me to seek out the comic perspective in any story. For a while there, this reflex made me dismiss my writing as Lite Reading or Chick Lit. But I’ve had a few people talk to me about the grief that the characters experience, the darker events and the serious storylines. I’ve let them convince me that the books have really got substance.

When I was writing some of the more emotional scenes in my books, I really got caught up in those feelings. I was miserable and depressed after I wrote the mother’s funeral scene in AND BABY MAKES TWO. But I was elated after I wrote the adoption scene in that book. Obviously, I’m a method writer.

SD: What concerns you as a writer?

JS: That everyone will discover that I’m a fraud. Seriously, I question myself pretty harshly, all the time. I worry about being cliché, about repeating myself, and about boring the reader. Are all writers completely insecure about their work? In addition to all this, I worry that my worries make me cave in too easily to suggestions, edits and revisions. So yes, I worry about worrying. It’s a sickness.

SD: I find there is a certain incompatibility between the writing life and family life. Writing requires you to be in your head a lot, while family life requires you to be present. How do you handle the disparity?

JS: Writing life and family life are polar opposites. The only way that I can get my writing done is to carve out time, separate from family time. On Saturdays, my daughter’s godfather takes her to a dance class, and then sometimes to a park or museum afterwards. I’m writing during that whole time. When I’m really disciplined, I fire up the laptop while she’s settling into bed at night. I go right from lights out, to writing. That part is especially hard to do, and it sometimes makes me feel like a martyr, which is a very bad thing. I’m single, so there is no partner to take care of (or to take care of me). It’s hard. I remember hearing Anne Lamott say that “if you can’t write under your current circumstances, you can’t write.” That line scared me into a tough work ethic: I have a full-time job, I’m a single mother, and I’m writing my third novel. God, that was an exhausting sentence to write. I get my sense of drive from my mother, as you might be able to tell. There are times when I wish that my life were simpler. I wish that I didn’t want to write. But I do. And I believe that I always will.

Book Notes

2008-04-30T08:42:00.003-04:00

Judy Sheehan’s latest, WOMEN IN HATS, is in stores now. It’s being described as “...a sparkling novel that calls to mind Carrie Fisher's POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE. Judy Sheehan has written a story full of humor and heart, wisdom and hope, about the rich, often fraught relationship between mothers and their daughters.”

For those of you in the New York City area, Judy will be reading tonight at Kettle of Fish (59 Christopher Street, near 7th Ave.)

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A college recruiter from Random House once told me that e-books would never replace old-fashioned, bound books. Here’s why.

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Am I the only person rooting for this guy?

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Keith Gessen was a literary critic; now he’s a first-time novelist. That takes serious guts. After reading this article in the New York Times, I can’t wait to pick up a copy of ALL THE SAD YOUNG LITERARY MEN.

Understanding Your Book Contract -- Part II

2008-04-29T15:48:00.002-04:00

Now that we have the general accounting out of the way, we can focus on the rights and responsibilities of the author. It’s really not as daunting as it sounds.

Examination of Publisher’s Books and Records (Auditing): This means the author has the right, under certain terms detailed in the contract, to audit the publisher's accounting records for errors. Pretty cool, huh? Most authors will rarely have a use for this, unless they are major bestsellers, or have a series of books, or there is a glaring error in their statements and the publisher disputes the numbers. The cost of the accounting is at the author’s expense, unless it is found that the publisher owes the author money and that discrepancy exceeds a certain percentage of total sales (5% is an example). Auditing is a bit of a gamble, but it can certainly pay off.

Failure to Deliver Manuscript/Delivery Extensions/Acceptance of Manuscript: If you submit a finished manuscript to the publisher, these clauses will not pertain to you. If, however, you submit an outline and a few chapters, you’ll need to pay close attention to this one. These clauses outline deadlines and the penalties if you fail to deliver your manuscript. Most publishers will be somewhat flexible if you need a deadline extension, providing you are acting in good faith. Authors who fail to deliver a satisfactory manuscript within the negotiated deadlines risk having to return all or a portion of the advance. This occurrence is infrequent but not unheard of, so it may not be wise to spend your advance before you’ve finished writing your book.

Correction of Proofs: Once you and your editor have whipped your manuscript into shape, the publisher will bind it into a cheap paperback called a galley. Galleys are sent out for publicity and review purposes. They also give you a chance to see the work in print before it goes out for final printing. You will have the opportunity to review the galley and make corrections. Usually, these corrections are superficial (i.e. typos), but if a sentence or word choice really bugs you here and there, you can do a light edit. Heavy edits, however, are going to cost you. If you decide you want to change more than a certain percentage of the manuscript (15% is an example), most publishers will charge you for the cost of making those changes.

Publication: This clause specifies the timeframe in which the publisher is required to publish the book from the date of signature. It is usually 18 months.

Author’s Agent: List the agent(s) acting on your behalf and the percentage they are to receive. Fifteen percent is standard; for foreign sales, usually your domestic agent will receive 10% and your foreign agent will receive 10%.

Author’s Warranties: By signing this agreement, you are stating that you are the sole author of the work (unless, of course, it is known that you have a writing partner), that you have the right to sell the work, that this work has not been previously published, that the work does not libel anyone, and does not break any laws.

Indemnity: This is where we hit the real legalese—the clause pertaining to what will happen if you or the publisher is sued because of the book. The terms and scenarios are quite varied here and frankly, I don’t have the patience to sort any of it out. Consult your agent on this one.

Free Copies: Yahoo! As the author, you are entitled to free copies of the book. Twenty-five copies is a common amount—not enough for all the people that will be begging you for a copy, but a good number. If you have a contract with a German publisher and don’t speak German, you’ll find this amount to be more than sufficient—in fact, a hindrance. Feel free to ask for more or less. It’s probably one of the easiest clauses to change. This clause also states the discount rate given to you if you’d like to purchase additional books on your own—50% is standard.

And this concludes our brief contract overview. Remember, this is meant only as a basic guide and your terms may vary, but I hope it was helpful.

Understanding Your Contract -- Part I

2008-04-25T14:19:00.004-04:00

I thought it might be helpful to give a brief overview of that most intimidating of documents--the twenty-page book contract. It’s been ten years since I’ve worked with author contracts, so please take my info as guide and not gospel; that being said, the publishing industry is old and slow to change. Most of what I knew then should still be relevant today.

The first thing you need to know is that you will be given a standard contract with just a few variables thrown in. Ninety-five percent of the contract will apply to you as it applies to everyone else. This contract has been carefully hammered out over the years by attorneys, agents, and publishers alike, and is relatively fair to all involved. There are sections that protect the publisher and sections that protect the author. There is no reason to approach a contract from a reputable publishing house with undue paranoia. At the same time, it is imperative that you and your agent review the contract thoroughly. If there is something you don’t like in the there, negotiate a change. I’ve rarely encountered a contract that didn’t have a clause or two axed or amended.

Here’s a brief overview of the major clauses in an average contract:

Grant and Territory: This describes how long the contract will be in effect, where the publisher will publish the book, and in what language. Exclusive world rights, for example, means the publisher can print the book in any language and sell it anywhere in the world. If you live in the US and your contract says "exclusive publication in the English language in the United States", that means you will able to sell your book to any number of foreign publishers—which means more opportunities to make money.

Subsidiary Rights: Sub-rights cover a whole host of things from motion picture rights, to Braille editions, to e-books, etc. There is also something called “first serial rights” and “second serial rights”. First serial rights are when a magazine publishes a portion of your novel before its release; second serial rights are when it’s published after. Sub-rights are side deals made with other companies, and the advances paid out are often split between the author and the publisher, 50/50, though first serial rights are usually split 90% to the author and 10% to the publisher.

Advance: This is the amount of money the publisher has agreed to pay you for the manuscript. The advance is rarely paid out all at once, and is commonly paid out in thirds. For example, if your advance is $1,500, it will usually state that $500 is to be paid out upon signing of the contract, another $500 is to be paid out when you deliver the final manuscript to the publisher, and the final third will paid out upon publication of the work.

Royalties: Here is where you’ll find the details of what percentage you’ll be paid for each book sold. Usually there is an escalation, which means the royalty rate increases with the number of books sold. Here are some typical royalty rates and escalations:

Hardcover:

10% for the first 5,000 copies
12 ½% for the next 5,000 copies
15% on all copies sold thereafter

Trade Paperback (fancy, larger paperback)

7 ½ % for all copies sold

Mass-Market (cheaper, supermarket paperback)

8% for the first 150,000 copies sold
10% on all copies thereafter

Reserve For Returns: In order to understand the reserve for returns, you first have to know a little bit about how bookstores purchase books. Initially, they put in an order—for the sake of argument, let’s say 100 copies. On your royalty statement, these 100 books will show as sold. Unfortunately, the bookstore might only sell 50 copies. After some time has passed, the bookstore then has the option of returning the unsold books to the publisher for a refund. So even if your royalty statement shows 100 sold, in reality only 50 books were sold.

To plan for eventual returns, the publisher picks an arbitrary percentage called the reserve for returns. Twenty-percent is common. This means that if your royalty statement says you should be paid for 100 copies sold, they have the right to withhold 20% of the payment in reserve on the chance that some of them might be returned. After a pre-determined amount of time has passed, the publisher will then release the reserve, meaning that 20% may now be accounted for. (Note: The reserve for returns is a frequent sticking point for authors. A 20% return, in my opinion, is fair, but something in the range of 40-50% is excessive. Also, any author would do well to monitor their royalty statements, to make sure the reserve is released at the agreed time.)

On my next post, I’ll cover clauses related to production, as well as an author’s responsibility and rights.