Several factors in my writing life have created a 'perfect storm' for the editing of book two in my series and the composition of book three. As a result, I am having to write very, very quickly to make my two deadlines over the next four to six months.
What is writing 'very quickly'?
My natural writing pace is about two chapters a week (15-20 pages). This is slow compared to many writers in my industry, and there are a couple of reasons for that. First, because I tend to be most inspired by history, my writing is better if I can do a little research along the way. Little tidbits I find add depth and surprise to the story.
Second, I usually need a few days of mulling time every few chapters, to allow my subconscious to process the story and find the perfect scene to make the transition between one plot point and the next. In my first novel, Fairer than Morning, there is little 'wasted time.' Every scene matters, and there is strong scenic structure from each chapter to the next. This keeps the suspense high, and it takes good planning combined with intuition to make it work. The intuition can be the time-consuming part, as it doesn't always cooperate with the schedule. :-)
Now, instead of writing two chapters a week, I'm having to write five to seven chapters a week (depending on whether it's a slow or fast week). In other words, I'm writing at two to three times my usual pace.
Writing a chapter a day is a new experience, believe me! There are days when I really, really don't want to do it, because it's so alien to my usual writing process.
I could sit around feeling upset all the time that I don't have time to research this or that, or worrying about whether I can write a good novel under these conditions.
But that would be pointless. This is the way it is. I have a contract to fulfill, and so I will do it. It is far better to focus on the positive and fight off those negative thoughts that don't help the situation at all. I have learned a great deal through my first contract experience. Some lessons we have to learn the hard way. They're still valuable lessons, even when they're painful!
"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Monday, June 27, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
My New Cover Appears!
I am thrilled to unveil this beautiful cover for Sweeter than Birdsong, coming in February 2012.
Didn't Thomas Nelson's team do a great job? :-)
Didn't Thomas Nelson's team do a great job? :-)
Friday, June 17, 2011
Clash of the Titles Champion!
Yippee! Fairer than Morning won the challenge for best description of a main character over at Clash of the Titles.Clash of the Titles is a fantastic site where every couple of weeks, two excerpts from books are pitted against one another in friendly competition. Readers get to vote for the one they like best. I'm honored to be a COTT champion! And I get this neat champion button for my blog, too.
Please stop by COTT and leave a comment if you like!
And keep an eye on it for future contests...it's an entertaining way to get to know the work of lots of authors.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Writing Race: All Different Kinds of Free
One of the thorniest challenges for a novelist in twenty-first century America is writing characters whose race or culture of origin differs from your own.
In the past, novelists tended to 'mark' the speech of certain ethnic or racial groups with the technique called dialect. They would use spelling changes to indicate pronunciations that differed from standard Northeastern American English.
For example, it's quite common for Southern Americans of any race to pronounce words that end in "ing" without a noticeable 'g': "goin'" for "going." So in the past, novelists would mark Southern speech by using apostrophes instead of those final g's in verbs.
But here's the problem: to a Southern American, the word that sounds like "GO-IN" to a Northern ear is nonetheless spelled "going." That's how a Southerner hears the word. So when a Southerner reads a piece of fiction by a Northerner and finds all these apostrophes and other strange spellings, the Southerner realized that he is not the same as the author of the novel--he has been "othered," in academic terms. Dialect is a form of writing that marks certain kinds of speech as not standard--but what is the standard? None of us pronounces the American language in a perfectly-standardized way.
The challenge of writing speech across cultural lines prevents many authors from tackling the project at all. Writing novels is hard enough without adding this very sophisticated problem to the mix!
That's why I am absolutely delighted to tell you about a novel I just finished that is a brilliant example of writing across cultural lines. It's All Different Kinds of Free, by Jessica McCann. This is the story of Margaret Morgan, an educated, free black woman living with her husband and children in Pennsylvania in 1837. Margaret and her children are kidnapped and illegally enslaved south of the Mason Dixon.
I seldom find a novel so enthralling that I read it in one or two sittings, but this is one of those novels. Margaret's story is heartwrenching, and it also happens to be true. Margaret Morgan and her children were the catalyst for a historic Supreme Court ruling. But that fact alone might make the novel sound really dry, to those who have been ruined for history by dry classes full of dates and impersonal memorization. Trust me, this novel is the opposite of dry. It's full of suspense and passion. I admired Margaret's strength even as I clung to the edge of my seat waiting to see if her family would make it through their ordeal. The novel is also a delicate, complex character study that made me reflect on our human potential for evil, good, and self-rationalization.
But the point of this post is technique, and here's why Jessica McCann's technique should be a study for anyone who considers writing across cultural lines.
Jessica doesn't write 'traditional' dialect. There's no dialect to speak of in Margaret's point-of-view. Her thought patterns reflect some common rhythms in Southern African-American speech, and that makes her credible as who she is.
McCann also writes characters from Southern white or Northern white backgrounds, as well as African-Americans who are less educated than Margaret. She does things with their speech that are very subtle, yet still manage to convey the flavor of their cultural differences from one another.
To describe all the specifics would take too much space and time, so instead I'll just recommend this: all writers could study this novel as an example of how to write difference while using hardly any 'dialect.'
How do you feel about dialect? Have you read any dialect novels that you liked?
In the past, novelists tended to 'mark' the speech of certain ethnic or racial groups with the technique called dialect. They would use spelling changes to indicate pronunciations that differed from standard Northeastern American English.
For example, it's quite common for Southern Americans of any race to pronounce words that end in "ing" without a noticeable 'g': "goin'" for "going." So in the past, novelists would mark Southern speech by using apostrophes instead of those final g's in verbs.
But here's the problem: to a Southern American, the word that sounds like "GO-IN" to a Northern ear is nonetheless spelled "going." That's how a Southerner hears the word. So when a Southerner reads a piece of fiction by a Northerner and finds all these apostrophes and other strange spellings, the Southerner realized that he is not the same as the author of the novel--he has been "othered," in academic terms. Dialect is a form of writing that marks certain kinds of speech as not standard--but what is the standard? None of us pronounces the American language in a perfectly-standardized way.
The challenge of writing speech across cultural lines prevents many authors from tackling the project at all. Writing novels is hard enough without adding this very sophisticated problem to the mix!
That's why I am absolutely delighted to tell you about a novel I just finished that is a brilliant example of writing across cultural lines. It's All Different Kinds of Free, by Jessica McCann. This is the story of Margaret Morgan, an educated, free black woman living with her husband and children in Pennsylvania in 1837. Margaret and her children are kidnapped and illegally enslaved south of the Mason Dixon.
I seldom find a novel so enthralling that I read it in one or two sittings, but this is one of those novels. Margaret's story is heartwrenching, and it also happens to be true. Margaret Morgan and her children were the catalyst for a historic Supreme Court ruling. But that fact alone might make the novel sound really dry, to those who have been ruined for history by dry classes full of dates and impersonal memorization. Trust me, this novel is the opposite of dry. It's full of suspense and passion. I admired Margaret's strength even as I clung to the edge of my seat waiting to see if her family would make it through their ordeal. The novel is also a delicate, complex character study that made me reflect on our human potential for evil, good, and self-rationalization.
But the point of this post is technique, and here's why Jessica McCann's technique should be a study for anyone who considers writing across cultural lines.
Jessica doesn't write 'traditional' dialect. There's no dialect to speak of in Margaret's point-of-view. Her thought patterns reflect some common rhythms in Southern African-American speech, and that makes her credible as who she is.
McCann also writes characters from Southern white or Northern white backgrounds, as well as African-Americans who are less educated than Margaret. She does things with their speech that are very subtle, yet still manage to convey the flavor of their cultural differences from one another.
To describe all the specifics would take too much space and time, so instead I'll just recommend this: all writers could study this novel as an example of how to write difference while using hardly any 'dialect.'
How do you feel about dialect? Have you read any dialect novels that you liked?
Monday, June 6, 2011
It's Gonna Take TIme... A Whole Lotta Precious Time
Hi all!
I'm so glad to be back to my regular posts. I've missed all of my blogging friends.
The four weeks since my novel launched have been intense and chock full of valuable lessons.
Like most new endeavors, being a debut novelist is very humbling. A month after my launch date, I now realize all the things I didn't know when I started the process.
Here's a crucial one: for most debut novelists, it's going to take at least two months to even scratch the surface of the market.
There are exceptions, such as my agency mate Jody Hedlund, whose debut novel The Preacher's Bride hit the CBA bestseller list a month after its publication.
But Jody is a noteworthy exception, not the rule.
A more typical example is another agency mate, Karen Witemeyer. I have been pleased to see Karen's novels gaining more and more attention the longer she is in the marketplace. She just published her third novel. Her target readership is discovering her likable characters and humorous touch. But this didn't happen overnight for Karen. Her reputation seems to be growing stronger with each new novel, as word-of-mouth recommendations bring her new readers.
That elusive word-of mouth recommendation lies behind any writer's chances of finding a readership. Personally, I've seen hundreds of ads for books. Few make an impression. I've read many, many book reviews, and most slide back into oblivion without leaving a mark.
The books I always try out are the ones recommended by a circle of about four or five friends who share my taste. I will shell out cold cash for these books, in the hope of finding that rare treasure--a really good read.
Word-of-mouth is the most reliable seller of books. This means two things for writers:
1) If we want our books to sell and keep selling, they'd better be darn good books. This is harder than it sounds, once deadlines and other professional pressures kick in.
2) Even if we do achieve that high standard, it's gonna take time, as the George Harrison song says, a whole lotta precious time. Word of-mouth is not quick. Let's say 150 readers take a chance on my book when it first comes out, either because they know me or because they get the book for free as a review copy. My novel is 400 pages long. Two weeks may pass before most readers finish the novel and get ready to either buy it for their friends or recommend it so strongly that their friends go buy it. Then another two weeks pass while the second wave of readers finishes the book. You probably get the idea. It's a long, slow process to launch a debut novel from an unknown author.
Does any of this surprise you? What's the last book you liked enough to recommend strongly to your friends?
I'm so glad to be back to my regular posts. I've missed all of my blogging friends.
The four weeks since my novel launched have been intense and chock full of valuable lessons.
Like most new endeavors, being a debut novelist is very humbling. A month after my launch date, I now realize all the things I didn't know when I started the process.
Here's a crucial one: for most debut novelists, it's going to take at least two months to even scratch the surface of the market.
There are exceptions, such as my agency mate Jody Hedlund, whose debut novel The Preacher's Bride hit the CBA bestseller list a month after its publication.
But Jody is a noteworthy exception, not the rule.
A more typical example is another agency mate, Karen Witemeyer. I have been pleased to see Karen's novels gaining more and more attention the longer she is in the marketplace. She just published her third novel. Her target readership is discovering her likable characters and humorous touch. But this didn't happen overnight for Karen. Her reputation seems to be growing stronger with each new novel, as word-of-mouth recommendations bring her new readers.
That elusive word-of mouth recommendation lies behind any writer's chances of finding a readership. Personally, I've seen hundreds of ads for books. Few make an impression. I've read many, many book reviews, and most slide back into oblivion without leaving a mark.
The books I always try out are the ones recommended by a circle of about four or five friends who share my taste. I will shell out cold cash for these books, in the hope of finding that rare treasure--a really good read.
Word-of-mouth is the most reliable seller of books. This means two things for writers:
1) If we want our books to sell and keep selling, they'd better be darn good books. This is harder than it sounds, once deadlines and other professional pressures kick in.
2) Even if we do achieve that high standard, it's gonna take time, as the George Harrison song says, a whole lotta precious time. Word of-mouth is not quick. Let's say 150 readers take a chance on my book when it first comes out, either because they know me or because they get the book for free as a review copy. My novel is 400 pages long. Two weeks may pass before most readers finish the novel and get ready to either buy it for their friends or recommend it so strongly that their friends go buy it. Then another two weeks pass while the second wave of readers finishes the book. You probably get the idea. It's a long, slow process to launch a debut novel from an unknown author.
Does any of this surprise you? What's the last book you liked enough to recommend strongly to your friends?
Friday, June 3, 2011
Free Friday Book Giveaway Winners #4
Today marks the last round of book giveaways from my publisher!
Our winners are:
Jayne Preciado
Lindsey Bacon
Valerie Piotrowski
Ashley Sperry
Carolyn Pinnock
I will be sending each of you an email to get your mailing address.
I am delighted to see five new readers get their prizes, and thanks to everyone who entered over the course of the last four weeks. If you have read and enjoyed Fairer than Morning , I would really appreciate your review on Amazon or Barnes and Noble's websites! Every recommendation counts, and I am grateful to all the readers who have already posted their reviews. Those encouraging words mean a lot.
This coming Monday I will return to my regular Monday blog posts. I look forward to sharing some of the many things I've learned during the book launch.
Our winners are:
Jayne Preciado
Lindsey Bacon
Valerie Piotrowski
Ashley Sperry
Carolyn Pinnock
I will be sending each of you an email to get your mailing address.
I am delighted to see five new readers get their prizes, and thanks to everyone who entered over the course of the last four weeks. If you have read and enjoyed Fairer than Morning , I would really appreciate your review on Amazon or Barnes and Noble's websites! Every recommendation counts, and I am grateful to all the readers who have already posted their reviews. Those encouraging words mean a lot.
This coming Monday I will return to my regular Monday blog posts. I look forward to sharing some of the many things I've learned during the book launch.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
