Hi friends!
This is moving week, and we're working hard to pack up for our moving deadline. It's hard to believe that next Monday, I will be living in another state!
I look forward to catching up when the dust settles.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
Writer-Writer, Romance-Writer, History-Writer?
In bits and pieces wrested from the jaws of deadlines, I exchange emails with another published author friend of mine. One of the things we discuss, as historical fiction-with-romance writers, is the nature of our relationship to history, romance, and writing.
Here are three types of writer. I'll tell you which I am, and then I hope you'll tell me whether you fit one of these types, or whether you're something else.
History-Writer:
This is me. My passion for history drives my writing. I realized this all over again last week as I went to a library and a museum to start research for a new, short-term project (a historical stage play). For the first time in over a year, I felt a true thrill and a passion for my work as a writer.
The study of history reveals the realities beneath today's surfaces. It brings me stories that reveal the interconnectedness of all of our lives, and the greatness of the divine plan throughout time. When I start researching history, my mind comes alive. The combined analytical and creative challenge of turning real history into fictional narrative is my specialty. It's one of the few activities in life that can demand intense work from every neuron I possess--and it's an endeavor important enough to make me want to go to the effort. (Certain strategy board games could challenge me that much too, if I really cared that much about the outcome, but I play board games in a more relaxed way, for fun. :-)
When we History-Writers run amok, the scary result is a novel with pages and pages of real history so dense it makes eyes cross--or historical explanations out of the mouths of characters that sound like the author just stepped in as narrator.
Romance-Writer:
Well-known historical romance author Julie Lessman wrote this blog post. She discussed her dislike of research--the same research that makes me glow and gives me all my motivation to write. Yet, Julie and I write in the same genre. What gives?
Julie is a Romance-Writer, as she recalls saying to her agent in this post (and her fans will tell you she is very good at writing romance). Historical research doesn't float her boat: telling love stories does.
Now, I can't speak for Julie, but I'll tell you some more subvarieties within this type. Some Romance-Writers find they like the trimmings and fringe benefits of historicals (pretty dresses, behavioral conventions, true gentlemen!), but they don't like all the research and the feeling of "constriction" that results from the need for a writer to avoid anachronisms. Other Romance-Writers *kind of* enjoy writing the history, just as I can *kind of* enjoy writing romance when necessary. But that doesn't change the nature of the true driving force behind an author's work.
Romance-Writers have their weaknesses too, of course, and one of the key signs of an untamed Romance-Writer in historicals is those vocabulary errors and other historical inconsistences that a good editor should catch. An untamed Romance-Writer in contemporary fiction may stretch the bounds of credibility too far in order to give us an interesting twist on the boy-girl story.
Writer-Writers:
I know a few writers who are not very motivated by content. They're passionate about the writing itself. These writers tend to gravitate toward literary fiction or toward the looser genres, such as women's fiction, so they can 'play' more without having to adhere so tightly to the conventions of a genre. That looseness can have advantages and disadvantages. Playing outside conventions can produce brilliance--or it can produce a story that doesn't cohere and satisfy the reader. Sometimes, this kind of authorial playing by Writer-Writers can create a fantastic novel that is nonetheless very hard to sell because publishers are scared of the unknown. But other times, if Writer-Writers aren't disciplined, their writing can become self-indulgent and overdone. This happens most often in literary fiction, but I've seen it happen in the less lofty genres too. But more on that next week.
These three Writer categories aren't mutually exclusive, but I hope you will join in and tell me: what is your driving passion? Do you fit into one of these three types?
Here are three types of writer. I'll tell you which I am, and then I hope you'll tell me whether you fit one of these types, or whether you're something else.
History-Writer:
This is me. My passion for history drives my writing. I realized this all over again last week as I went to a library and a museum to start research for a new, short-term project (a historical stage play). For the first time in over a year, I felt a true thrill and a passion for my work as a writer.
The study of history reveals the realities beneath today's surfaces. It brings me stories that reveal the interconnectedness of all of our lives, and the greatness of the divine plan throughout time. When I start researching history, my mind comes alive. The combined analytical and creative challenge of turning real history into fictional narrative is my specialty. It's one of the few activities in life that can demand intense work from every neuron I possess--and it's an endeavor important enough to make me want to go to the effort. (Certain strategy board games could challenge me that much too, if I really cared that much about the outcome, but I play board games in a more relaxed way, for fun. :-)
When we History-Writers run amok, the scary result is a novel with pages and pages of real history so dense it makes eyes cross--or historical explanations out of the mouths of characters that sound like the author just stepped in as narrator.
Romance-Writer:
Well-known historical romance author Julie Lessman wrote this blog post. She discussed her dislike of research--the same research that makes me glow and gives me all my motivation to write. Yet, Julie and I write in the same genre. What gives?
Julie is a Romance-Writer, as she recalls saying to her agent in this post (and her fans will tell you she is very good at writing romance). Historical research doesn't float her boat: telling love stories does.
Now, I can't speak for Julie, but I'll tell you some more subvarieties within this type. Some Romance-Writers find they like the trimmings and fringe benefits of historicals (pretty dresses, behavioral conventions, true gentlemen!), but they don't like all the research and the feeling of "constriction" that results from the need for a writer to avoid anachronisms. Other Romance-Writers *kind of* enjoy writing the history, just as I can *kind of* enjoy writing romance when necessary. But that doesn't change the nature of the true driving force behind an author's work.
Romance-Writers have their weaknesses too, of course, and one of the key signs of an untamed Romance-Writer in historicals is those vocabulary errors and other historical inconsistences that a good editor should catch. An untamed Romance-Writer in contemporary fiction may stretch the bounds of credibility too far in order to give us an interesting twist on the boy-girl story.
Writer-Writers:
I know a few writers who are not very motivated by content. They're passionate about the writing itself. These writers tend to gravitate toward literary fiction or toward the looser genres, such as women's fiction, so they can 'play' more without having to adhere so tightly to the conventions of a genre. That looseness can have advantages and disadvantages. Playing outside conventions can produce brilliance--or it can produce a story that doesn't cohere and satisfy the reader. Sometimes, this kind of authorial playing by Writer-Writers can create a fantastic novel that is nonetheless very hard to sell because publishers are scared of the unknown. But other times, if Writer-Writers aren't disciplined, their writing can become self-indulgent and overdone. This happens most often in literary fiction, but I've seen it happen in the less lofty genres too. But more on that next week.
These three Writer categories aren't mutually exclusive, but I hope you will join in and tell me: what is your driving passion? Do you fit into one of these three types?
Monday, May 7, 2012
Why You Want Clean Galleys for Your Book
If you're familiar with the usual steps of the traditional publishing process, you know that novels go through several rounds of edits, and then they are typeset into galleys.
Galleys look like the actual pages that will appear in a bound novel. When you get the author copies of the galleys, you have your last chance to proofread your novel and make minor changes before it goes to print.
My second novel, Sweeter than Birdsong, ended up needing a very quick turnaround in line edits (the stage right before galleys), an unusually grueling, fast turnaround for both me and my editor. As a result, the galleys were not as clean as I would have liked. There were some errors, and there were a number of stylistic things that needed to be cleaned up. This was only natural because of the time pressure, and I managed to get everything shipshape for publication by some judicious work with the galleys (and with the help of my excellent copy editor and proofreaders).
Still, in an ideal situation, I would like to produce much cleaner galleys, and I think I have done that for my third novel, Lovelier than Daylight.
Why does it matter? Because galleys turn into what are called the ARCs, or Advance Reader Copies.
I was chagrined to realize that the readers for my second novel's blog tour had received ARCs, because I did not want my dear readers to read the flawed copies made from my galleys. I wanted them to read the real thing, the cleaned up version! But that's the way it often works in publishing. Reviews, both formal and informal, require advance copies.
So, when it's your turn, keep in mind that your galleys will go to Publishers Weekly. They will go to Library Journal and RT Book Reviews and every other advance reviewer.
My advice: get your manuscript as close to perfect as you can during line edits. Sometimes, circumstances will really make that close to impossible, as with our editing time frame for Sweeter than Birdsong. But when you have the time, go over your manuscript with a fine-toothed comb during line edits! Get rid of every word repetition, every slightly cloudy phrasing, every metaphor that has even a *whisper* of overwriting about it.
You'll be glad you did when you find out a hundred reviewers are reading your galleys. :-)
Galleys look like the actual pages that will appear in a bound novel. When you get the author copies of the galleys, you have your last chance to proofread your novel and make minor changes before it goes to print.
My second novel, Sweeter than Birdsong, ended up needing a very quick turnaround in line edits (the stage right before galleys), an unusually grueling, fast turnaround for both me and my editor. As a result, the galleys were not as clean as I would have liked. There were some errors, and there were a number of stylistic things that needed to be cleaned up. This was only natural because of the time pressure, and I managed to get everything shipshape for publication by some judicious work with the galleys (and with the help of my excellent copy editor and proofreaders).
Still, in an ideal situation, I would like to produce much cleaner galleys, and I think I have done that for my third novel, Lovelier than Daylight.
Why does it matter? Because galleys turn into what are called the ARCs, or Advance Reader Copies.
I was chagrined to realize that the readers for my second novel's blog tour had received ARCs, because I did not want my dear readers to read the flawed copies made from my galleys. I wanted them to read the real thing, the cleaned up version! But that's the way it often works in publishing. Reviews, both formal and informal, require advance copies.
So, when it's your turn, keep in mind that your galleys will go to Publishers Weekly. They will go to Library Journal and RT Book Reviews and every other advance reviewer.
My advice: get your manuscript as close to perfect as you can during line edits. Sometimes, circumstances will really make that close to impossible, as with our editing time frame for Sweeter than Birdsong. But when you have the time, go over your manuscript with a fine-toothed comb during line edits! Get rid of every word repetition, every slightly cloudy phrasing, every metaphor that has even a *whisper* of overwriting about it.
You'll be glad you did when you find out a hundred reviewers are reading your galleys. :-)
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