DON'T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB

I tried. I really tried. But my retired friend’s debut novel was so bad I just couldn’t get through it. I had to put it down after struggling through 56 percent of the thing and move on to something else.

Let me say right up front that this was NOT a science fiction romance novel, and the author was no one any of you faithful readers is likely to know. I generally have a rule about the books I read within this community—if I can’t say anything nice, I don’t say anything at all. Most of the pros in the SFR community have worked hard to get where they are; they seek out advice and critiques from each other; they deserve to be treated as the professionals they are.

But I’m sure you’ve all had this experience: the minute you mention you’re a writer, someone in your intimate circle says, “Oh, I’ve always wanted to write a book! I’ve got this great idea!” And they proceed to tell you all about it. And pump you for information about publishing and agents and all the rest. Advice which they will then ignore.

Just remember the second part.

That’s what happened with this person. As soon as they retired from their job (I’m using the nongender pronouns deliberately), they started on a huge historical/adventure novel with romantic elements. And, to give them credit, they finished their book and self-published it. Bravo! It’s no mean feat to write a book, after all, and the skills needed to either format and design a cover for the thing (or find someone to do it) aren’t to be sneezed at, either.

So, appreciating all that, and thinking that the person is of above-average intelligence (and that I enjoy the occasional historical novel), I thought, well, I should buy a copy of their book. Authorly solidarity and all that, right? And, what’s more, I should read it with a thought toward, possibly, giving it a review.

But, yikes! The first thing I tell aspiring authors is this: every writer needs a good editor. The biggest mistake beginning writers make is thinking they can do without one, because, I don’t know, they passed eighth grade English. Or, because Spell-Check. No! Good editors will not only keep their clients from making dumb grammatical and spelling errors. They will keep them from boring their readers to death with info-dumping; or confusing them with head-hopping; or throwing them into plot holes big enough to swallow a truck.

In the case of my friend, an editor would have saved them from the huge mistake of choosing a quirky system of punctuation that somehow substituted ellipses (. . .) for commas in the weirdest places, eg: “Sir . . . you are a fool!”, as opposed to the proper, “Sir, you are a fool!”. I spent most of the first few chapters reading the dialogue in William Shatner’s voice, with pauses in all the wrong places! I know this was a deliberate choice because the writer is an educated person who went to the same college I did. Such things were never allowed at my alma mater, even in the History department.

Then there were the many sentence fragments, which can be used to great effect at times, but not all the time. Not to mention the long, detailed passages of historical detail, which amounted to info-dumping. And the fact that the hero and heroine, who are meant to be a couple not only in this book, but in a series, were still not together after half the book. *sigh*

Needless to say, I won’t be writing that review. Instead, I’ll be trying to find a nice way to tell my friend what they need to hear about improving their writing. In the meantime, I needed to cleanse my reading palate. I started in on Stephen King’s latest, Billy Summer, and heaved a great sigh of relief. Now, there’s a man who knows his way around a keyboard!

Cheers, Donna

 

KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN OR GET OUT OF DODGE

Lots of players and itchy trigger fingers in today's romance world.

When people ask me how long I’ve been writing, I often answer, “All my life.” I think it’s that way for most writers; we can’t remember a time when we weren’t creating stories and putting them to paper (or screen). Writing isn’t just something we do, it’s something we are. 

And yet so many of my fellow authors are experiencing a kind of existential crisis right now. After five or ten or fifteen years of professional publication—either through traditional means or self-pubbing—they are giving up. Those who went the trad route made it through the gauntlet of contests, querying, rejections, the thrill of “the call,” more rejections, winning the contract at last, cover squabbles, revisions, release day, and anxiety over sales—sometimes multiple times. Those who went the self-pub route had to find an editor, find a cover artist (or do it themselves), format the manuscript, pay for all that, pay for promo and agonize over sales—sometimes multiple times. But despite overcoming all those challenges many authors are realizing the gain is no longer worth the pain. From author after author, the publishing world is hearing, “I quit.”

You can’t blame them, really. Institutions that used to encourage newbie writers, indie authors, niche genres and slow, but steady performers are drying up like ponds on the African savannah. RWA® is eliminating the Golden Heart® contest for unpublished manuscripts after having tightened requirements for membership in its Professional Authors Network to the point that only high-performing pro authors need apply. We almost lost the most comprehensive website for SFR book listings, SFR Station, until a “retiring” SFR author stepped in to take over from its founder. 

RT Reviews, a digital romance magazine that was a trusted source of reviews for SFR and other romance novels, folded without notice this summer, taking with it the RTBooklovers Con. That convention’s “replacement,” the BookLovers Con, which still focuses on romance, limited author participation in next spring’s event in New Orleans to “invited” authors only. As you might guess, those invited authors are the big names who can post the big sales numbers.

But even more discouraging is the kind of gold rush mentality that has overtaken the self-pubbing world in general, and the romance community in particular. It's common knowledge that you can use certain skeezy techniques to manipulate the sales and promo algorithms on Amazon, especially as relates to Kindle Unlimited. Scamming the system is apparently easier and a lot more profitable than actually writing decent books and trying to promote and sell them legitimately. 

With the encouragement of certain “gurus” like John Konrath, who promise untold wealth via self-pubbling, and the meteoric rise of new adult erotica in romance bringing in hordes of wannabes hoping to cash in on the latest craze, self-published romance on Amazon is the Wild West right now. Gunslingers, card sharps, scalpers and carpetbaggers of all descriptions abound, and it’s damn hard to find a place at the bar with all the bullets zinging past your ear.

So, what to do? Well, there are only two ways to go. Get the hell out of Dodge. Or keep your head down and write. Me, I don’t have a choice. I’m a writer. I’ve been doing this all my life.

Cheers, Donna

Habit will sustain you

First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice.
— Octavia Butler

My oh my was there a kerfuffle over the recent bit of writerly advice from Pulitzer Prize winning author Stephen Hunter, published by BuzzFeed! I would find it hard not to laugh at the whole thing if it wasn't disturbing on a number of levels. As Foz Meadows points out, at the piece's core there is a solid message: good writing habits are more important than talent and inspiration. But man did that core get dented, dinged, and tarnished by the spacejunk around it.

For starters, this humdinger of an opener:

In a few days or weeks, I’ll start a new novel. I don’t know yet and won’t for years if it’s good, bad, dreary, enchanting, or merely adequate. Moreover, I don’t know if it’ll help or hurt my reputation, make me rich or a fool, or simply pass into oblivion without squeak or moan. [So far so good, but wait for it ...]

What is certain is that on that same day, whichever one it is, one thousand other people will start their novels. In order to publish mine, it has to be better than theirs. So, forgive me—I pretty much hate them.

Early in my writing career, I would sometimes feel miffed by the success of other writers. And sure, even at this point in my career it's hard not to wish for a small piece of the action some bestselling authors enjoy. But I am a GROWNUP. I get that there is no algorithm for writerly success. It's talent, luck, timing, and fairy dust, and it can rarely be predicted. And guess what else? Anyone's book sales equal good news for me: PEOPLE ARE STILL READING BOOKS YAY. And if it's in my genre? All the better. As co-blogger Laurie Green once said to me: A rising tide floats all boats.

There is no need for me to further smack down this piece, as Foz has done that already. I'll leave you with a few of her choicest words, and you can decide whether to read the rest for yourself.

Presented without Hunter’s caveats and curlicues, the core recommendation – make regular writing part of your routine, because you can’t ever publish a book you don’t finish – is a reasonable one. That Hunter has managed to turn such simple advice into a purple, self-congratulatory screed about the failings of other, lesser beings is, if nothing else, a cautionary example of hubris in action.

The piece is also riddled with insecurity and what I agree with Foz seems to be signs of a clinically depressed outlook. Almost as sad as that is there are actually a few nuggets of good advice mixed in with the other bits that I'd only give to someone I wished to discourage. But probably saddest of all is the fact this guy is 71 years old and it sounds like he's lived a rather miserable life. Some things ain't worth a Pulitzer.

So I leave you instead with the quote on the same topic, at the top of this post, by Octavia Butler, who did not win a Pulitzer, but WAS a multiple recipient of both the Hugo and Nebula awards. And here is a little bit about HER, whom I'd much rather talk about...

When I've told other women that I write sci-fi, several of them have asked whether I've read Butler. Sadly, because many of the top female writers of sci-fi are largely, mmmm, shall we say de-emphasized, I had never even heard of her. (And get this: She died the year my daughter was born, not five minutes from my house.)

I finally got around to reading one of her books this month, and here's a short review. KINDRED is the story of a young black woman who is somehow psychically linked to a white male ancestor of hers in the antebellum South. She travels back to his time at points when his life is in danger (he's rather accident-prone). It's a harrowing tale with high stakes and very complicated motives and emotions. The novel is written in first person, and I've never read a book that gave me such powerful glimpses into the psyche of a slave in the South—not to mention the many stark non-choices they faced in their brutal lives. I understand her other works are more traditionally sci-fi, and explore very similar themes. The story does feature a romantic relationship, but this is NOT a romance. I do recommend it highly, but don't read it when you're feeling down. Because this is a romance forum—SPOILER ALERT—I will tell you that neither the heroine nor her husband dies, and their relationship is a sustaining force in the story.

As for Hunter's piece, pfthpfthpfh I say. Butler's quote is much more succinct and kindly meant.

KEEP UP WORD COUNT, NANOWRIMO OR NO

Take a certain Disney fish's advice: just keep swimming

Okay, since it’s November and Greta has broken the ice, let’s talk about word count, that bane of any author’s existence. 

Except maybe Stephen King’s or writers in his class. King writes eight hours a day, every day of the year except the Fourth of July and his birthday. His word count must be phenomenal. After all, his books regularly top 1000 pages and he comes out with at least one a year. Before he was hit by a car while walking along a Maine highway, he wrote so prolifically he had to use pseudonyms to keep from flooding the market. He’s slowed down a bit since then. Every month is National Novel Writing Month for him. I assume it’s the same for Nora Roberts, J.R. Ward and others in the top tier of bestsellers.

I’ve never done NaNoWriMo. I’m a slow writer in the best of times, primarily because I do what Greta does. I edit the previous day’s work before I start the new day’s writing. It helps me get back in the groove every day, and it leaves the work in much better shape when I reach The End. It’s as if I’ve gone through a couple of drafts already. (I’m a plotter, too, so the system makes sense for me.)

The idea of just getting it down and fixing it later is fine in theory, but horrifies me at some deep level. It’s the editor in me, I suppose. The only way I can still that inner critical voice is to throw it a bone on a regular basis. Then I can move on.

My system works for me as long as I can set aside enough writing time. That’s where daily life can interfere to the point at which the work in progress stalls out. I’ve discovered it’s not just a matter of telling myself I’m going to knuckle down and write for two hours (or four, or one) every day. I have to be realistic about when I can be productive and when I will be easily distracted, when my environment is conducive to work and when it allows only for interruption.

I recently decided I had to start getting up early in the morning to write again. That means, even though I don’t have a day job and I no longer teach martial arts, I’m up most mornings at 5:30 a.m. so I can write for an uninterrupted two hours. I make a smoothie the night before, get a quick cup of coffee and start in. I don’t check email, I don’t look at Facebook. I just write for at least two hours straight.That way I avoid the demands of email requests (promotion campaigns and so on), phone calls and other interruptions later in the day. If I’m really rolling that means 1000 words of progress everyday, not just some days when “things work out.”  

Many of you who read this blog are professional writers. You know about deadlines and goals and pressure from editors and publishers. But for those of you who may still be waiting for The Call, or who may just have published their first book and are wondering where to find the motivation to write that next one, understand that being an author demands a special kind of self-discipline. You don’t have a boss or a professor or your mom pushing you to do the work. You only have yourself. The better you are at cracking your own whip, the more this will work for you.

Sometimes you’ll have to keep at it without any kind of encouragement. It was several years before I found my wonderful agent Michelle, and several more years after that before we finally published my first novel, Unchained Memory. In the meantime, I’d had time to complete a second and almost finish a third novel in the Interstellar Rescue series. From a marketing point of view, that was great. The books came out one after the other.

Now I’m halfway through Number Four in the series. I can only say I’m glad I had the head start! And my advice—to myself and to others? Just keep writing.

No matter how you have to do it.

Cheers, Donna

WRITE EVERY DAY--BUT WHEN?

Time is seldom a writer’s friend, but a well-established routine can keep those approaching deadlines from becoming a runaway train barreling down the track toward you. You may not manage the old writers’ rule to write every day, but if you can manage to eke out a few words on a regular basis despite the many constraints life puts on you, you will be ahead of the game.

If you have a job, you have to write before or after work and/or during lunch. I used to write when I got home from my part-time job and on my days off—when I didn’t have “home management” stuff to do. You know, the stuff, like grocery shopping, that I bet Stephen King hasn’t done since he married Tabitha.

If you have kids, you usually have to write before they get up or after they go to bed or to school. When I first started writing, I wrote late at night, after my young kids were in bed. Now that I’m a grandma, I fall asleep in front of the TV about the time I used to be hitting my stride. (Unless I’m talking story in a bar somewhere; then I can usually make it until about midnight.)

If you have a job AND kids, God bless you. You have to choose whether to write or sleep. You can’t do both, sorry.

Just before I came to my new home in NC, when people asked me when I wrote, I usually answered, “Whenever I can.” I taught martial arts classes at all times of the day (and night), most days of the week, for an hour or two at a time. This made for a chaotic schedule, no two days alike. I could barely keep track of my routine, much less describe it to anyone else. I tried to get up early and write for a couple of hours consistently on most days, though. Whatever else happened that day, I could at least have that much accomplished. 

I have to say that two hours was a goal more than an achievement, however, near the end of my stay in Virginia. The demands of my classes, the upheaval of preparing for the move and the promotional effort required to launch my first novel, Unchained Memory, took a lot of my attention.

Now that I’m in a new home, I have an entirely different problem. For the first time since I began writing as an adult, I am completely free to construct a routine built around my writing. I have no outside commitments—no job, no kids, no classes to teach. All I have to do is factor in time for exercise (I still practice tai chi, even if I no longer teach it) and those pesky home management tasks (nope, still no personal assistant/cook/maid, darn it!).

So what will it be? Am I really an early bird, doing her best work before noon? (The habits of a lifetime have a strong pull.) Or will I sleep in, then work steadily until late afternoon? (Tempting, but I can’t see that happening for more than a week.) What about my biggest conflict—the best time for writing (morning) is also the best time for exercise! And napz! Must have napz!

I can hear you all now. This is a nice problem to have, right? I couldn’t agree more. Forgive me if I have to take a minute to scurry around in frantic circles like an ant whose nest has just been kicked. Eventually I’ll find the right path and get back to work in proper orderly fashion. In the meantime, what would you do if you could build the day to suit yourself? Get up early, stay up late, declare noon to be the new dawn? Or just tell time by the rising and setting of the sun?

Cheers, Donna