One Book’s Journey

Paul Collins – writer, editor and publisher – talks about the path his latest children’s book took to reach publication.

Every book has its own rite-of-passage. It starts out young and innocent as our fantasy heroes do, has a call (great enthusiasm on the part of the author) refuses the call (writer’s block); meets its mentor (perhaps the author brainstorms for ideas?); crosses the first threshold (yes! thinks the author, I have it now!); encounters a test (hmmm . . . am I writing crap the author wonders); approaches the heart of the story (author feels as though they’re back on track); receives a reward (perhaps an outline has been submitted and received positive feedback); heads for home, that being the book is completed (the author sends their beloved manuscript out); stalls at little at the climax/resurrection (author sells it after a rejection or two. Yes, some editor has braved the marketing department and persuaded them that this book is worth every cent they’re going to offer); receives its elixir/prize (it’s finally published).

My current book is The Slightly Skewed Life of Toby Chrysler. Its own journey began three years ago. However, about that time I thought I’d like to start publishing other authors’ books so I had two careers happening at once. The trouble is, I’d created a monster with Ford Street Publishing. Although publishing seven to eight books a year doesn’t sound too hectic, it’s easy to forget the major publishers have staff to edit, do accounts, market/publicity, proofread, design, liaise with authors and illustrators, write contracts, etc, etc.

Toby struggled on in dribs and drabs whenever I had a chance to work on it. I knew I wanted a character, Fluke, to have a certain character trait. I started researching malapropisms for Fluke’s character. So a decaffeinated coffee becomes a decapitated coffee; for all intent and purposes becomes for all intensive purposes; charity begins at home becomes clarity begins at home. The trick is to make sure the verbal gaffes all relate to the actual story. Some of my favourite malapropisms are the town was flooded and everyone had to be evaporated; dysentery in the ranks; and of course, Kath and Kim’s friends who are very effluent.

The characters’ names come from anecdotal stories. Toby is nicknamed Milo, because he’s not Quik. Fluke was named after his mother tried conceiving on the IVF program, gave up, then conceived. Hence, Fluke. One of the good things about a long rite-of-passage for a novel is that all of the above was discovered along the way. If I’d sat down to write this book in a three-month period (it’s only about 25,000 words long) I would’ve missed out on some (I say modestly!) nice touches.

Once I’d finished The Slightly Skewed Life of Toby Chrysler I wondered which publisher I could send it to. After all, most know me as a science fiction writer – I don’t know why this is because I’ve written many more fantasy novels than science fiction novels, but there you are!

Taking a leaf from Doris Lessing’s book (she also sent two MSS to publishers under a pseudonym) I sent the manuscript to all the major publishers under another name. Like Doris Lessing’s submissions, it was rejected. One publisher did say I could send more of my work because I “showed promise”. But one editor loved it and recommended another publisher because his company was being subsumed.

I took up his suggestion and waited . . . and waited. Five months later I withdrew the manuscript. I figured if the editor couldn’t be bothered looking at a manuscript that’s come highly recommended from an eminent editor, then perhaps that wasn’t the right publisher for me.

I was then faced with a dire predicament. Where could I send my new book? I was judging a writing competition called the Charlotte Duncan Award at the time. So under the pseudonym I sent Toby to Kathryn Duncan, the publisher at Celapene Press. It was accepted within the week and within four months it was published. So there you – a slightly skewed rite-of-passage.

There’s a weird trailer for this book.

See the first chapter of Paul Collins’ Spell of Undoing on the ROR Visiting Author page. This is one of the Quentaris Chronicle books.

Author as Performer

Consider this.
Writers are good at writing about people because they sit back and observe them.

They are good at writing because they spend hours alone with their keyboard, conversing with people in their heads.

Now consider this.

Publishers want writers to be ‘personalities’.

Ten years ago, the publisher’s publicist would take that introverted writer, kicking and screaming, and plonk them on a panel at a writers’ festival, or in front of a microphone on live radio. You can bet the writers struggled with that.

So how do they feel now that their expected to do podcasts and promotional videos for You Tube? There’s a New York Times article here on the topic. Perhaps the only thing the fish-out-of-water writer can be thankful for is that not many people will ever find their You Tube effort and watch it.

‘A mother still nursing her 8-year-old: 25,864,943 views; recent best-selling maternal memoirist: 5,124 views.’

According to the same NYT article only .2 percent of readers discovered their last book through a video trailer. Although 4 in 10 teenagers said they liked to see book trailers on book related blogs and 46 percent watched book trailers on You Tube. And a whopping 45 percent bought the book after watching the trailer for it.

Here’s hoping some of those teen readers will find Tansy Rayner Roberts’ new book trailer.  See it here. I know my own trailer (seen here) aroused interest when it was released.

So feel sorry for the modern author.

How about you? Do you like watching book trailers? I must admit I really enjoyed Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I’m talking about it now, so I guess that is good for the book.

Would you buy a book after seeing a good book trailer?

Flashbacks or Non-linear Story Telling

No excuse for this picture I just like the deserted beach and the brooding clouds.

There are several definitons of linear and non-linear story telling. If you play computer games, the player directs where the story goes (within the constraints provided by the game’s developers).

In books and films the term non-linear is used in a different way. Think of the movie ‘Momento’. That was one movie you had to watch twice, because there was a whole new layer the second time around.

In books we have the flashback and more rarely the flashforwards. (I was trying to think of a flashforwards. Isn’t there a quick flashforwards at the beginning of the movie ‘American Beauty’? I haven’t seen it since it came out. As I remember we see the main character dead. Then we see how it came to this point. Altternatively, you could argue that the majority of the movie was a flashback. Anybody seen ‘American Beauty’ recently?).

Samuel Delaney has an interesting article on Flashbacks in Psychology Today. Flashbacks mimic Memory: Samuel R Delany.  He argues all writing is only the stringing together of micro-memories from the reader’s memory, that the writer remixes, using words to trigger those memories and guide the reader through a process of constructing the story in their head, which they do using micro memories of their own.

But that is probably getting more philosophical than we need for a post on writing craft.

Traditionally, the flashback for a writer means a chunk of previous story that the writer drops into the narrative. This is non-linear narrative and we are so familiar and accepting of it, we don’t even notice, unless the writer does it badly.

We accept flashbacks. The danger with flashbacks is that if they are too interesting the reader will want to stay in the flashback and will resent it when the writer brings them back to the narrative’s present day.

Diane D says: ‘flashbacks should only be used to enhance a storyline or character, be believable, and transition smoothly. When used appropriately, the flashback will give the reader a thorough appreciation of the complete story..’ (Full article here).

Why use a flashback at all and risk losing your reader? Every scene should drive the plot forward or reveal something about the character, preferably both. So a flashback, even though it is a scene from the past, should do one or both of these things. Ask yourself, why am I putting this flashback into the narrative and why am I putting it here?

A smooth transition is really important. The reader has to know that they are going into a flashback. The simplest way is to say: He remembered the day his mother walked out …

But this is a distancing way to do it. It is more immediate, if your protagonist remembers it as he was, 9 years old, coming home from school to find her gone and his father sobbing at the kitchen table. Telling it from the point of view of that little boy will be more powerful than telling it from the POV of a cynical adult who has distanced himself from the pain. So how can you make it more immediate?

We don’t have control over our dreams and powerful events stay with us. Dream sequences can even be told in first person-present tense, if you are willing to try this. It makes it clear that this is not part of the ordinary narrative and the person experiencing it is being swept along. So your character can be the vulnerable 9 year old boy again for the purposes of the flashback.

Since we are all the sum of our life experience somewhere, deep inside your protagonist, he is still that boy, unable to understand why his mother left, unable to make it better. Using a flashback will make us like him more, now that we know why he finds it hard to commit to someone.

Flashback, a powerful took if used properly.

Can you think of books or movies which have used flashback to good effect?

The curse of being a Writer

(This is the 13th Warrior poster. I really like the movie, think it should have received more attention than it did. I showed the first 15 minutes to my class to walk about world building).

The curse of being a writer is not that you have to write (That’s a given). It is that you can’t switch off the internal editor.

I catch myself anticipating twists in movies and books, getting impatient and itching to rewrite.

And since I’ve been teaching about Vogler’s the Hero’s Journey I catch myself identifying the steps. Oh, that is the refusal of the call, I think. And then I’m thrown out of the story when I want to be immersed in it.

When I do find a book that makes me forget I’m reading a book I’m so excited I have to read it three times. Once to enjoy the experience. Once to see what works and why. And once more to see where it is weak, because on the third read through, I can see the bones.

Obsessive, moi?

Does anyone else have trouble switching off their internal editor?

Aspiring Writer’s Checklist

So you’ve decided you want to be published.

1. Take your writing seriously (not too seriously).

Give yourself permission to buy that book on plotting, attend that workshop and go to festivals and conventions.

Invest in yourself and your future as a writer.

2. Research and learn.

Join your state writers center. Join a specialist writers group like VISION. Buy the books that are shortlisted for awards. Keep up with what is being published, who is publishing it and how the genres are developing.

3. Learn to love the Internet.

There is so much useful information out there. Find agent blogs and follow them. eg.

Call my Agent.

Agent Kristin

Writer Beware

4. Conversely, limit the amount of time you spend on the internet.

Social networking aside,  the web is too tempting to research. You can go from one fascinating site to another and lose the precious couple of hours you have put aside to write.

5. Set aside a writing place that is yours alone.

Preferably with a door that you can close. Make this spot a haven where you feel welcome.

6. Make time to write.

Set aside a particular time each day for your writing time.  Set realistic goals eg. a minimum of 4 pages a day.  If you have trouble getting into a story after time away from it, go back a few pages and re-read it. You’ll catch yourself editing and before you know it, you’ll be writing a new scene.

7. Get organised.

Set goals. Short term (this week), medium term (this month), long term (this year) and Dream Goals (Where I’d like to be in five years).

Find competitions and markets,  and set yourself the goal of entering that competition, or sending something off to that market.

8. Keep track of submissions.

There are high tech programs but it is just as easy to make up a grid and drop in the title, date, Mag name and results.

9. Learn to love rejection.

(Don’t laugh)  Unless you fluke onto a sale right away, you’ll get rejections. There are standard rejections that tell you nothing and there are the kind that tell you, you are getting close. eg. Not quite what I’m looking for, or, bought something about sparkling vampires only last week.

10. Learn from rejection.

Whenever a story or book gets rejected with a personal comment take the time to get over the disappointment then take a look at the rejection. What can you learn from it? Can your story/book be re-written?

11. Send your work out.

Keep submitting. Your stories won’t sell sitting on your hard drive.

12. Back up all your work.

Back up your work in more than two places. I’ve had two computers die on me and just the other day my USB died. Burn to CD and date it, or buy an external hard drive and back up to that every month.

What if your house burned down? Save to somewhere external as well. (Writers are notoriously paranoid for good reason).

13. Have a career plan.

But be prepared to adapt. Talk to  published writers. How did they get published? What have they learnt since? Listening to others can prevent you making mistakes. Attend panels at festivals on the publishing industry. Listen and learn.

14. Do you need a pseudonym?

If you are going to write across several genres you might choose to write under different names. At writers festivals, would you feel comfortable answering to a name that isn’t yours? Can you use your initials, or your mother’s maiden name?

15. Enter Competitions and attend Pitching Opportunities

With many publishers only accepting agented submissions, the best way to get past the gate keepers is to enter and win or place in competitions. Alternatively,  there are opportunities for you to pitch your book to agents and editors. (See here for pitching info and here for competition info this one contains useful industry links).

Be ready for these opportunities by …

16. Get your manuscript professionally appraised by a reputable assessor

Ask around, find someone who knows your genre. Tell them to be frank. You really need fresh eyes to go over you ms before you send it out. Your writing buddies will have seen it during the process of writing so they will be too close. A good manuscript appraiser can tell you if your middle is sagging, if you are doing info dumps or if your first chapter is all back-story.

17. Do you need a web presence before you sell?

This is debatable. How much time are you going to spend on a blog, when you could be writing? The easiest way is to join a shared blog with like minded writers. This eases the load on each individual and you bring a shared perspective to the blog.

18. Be ready to promote your book.

Before you sell you can be making lists of blog review sites. Make a list of promotional ideas. Do you need a book trailer? Do you need bookmarks? Can you run workshops or talk on panels? Public speaking can be a horrifying thought for the introverted writer type.

19. Don’t forget to WRITE!

If you do sell a book, be prepared with other books and ideas for series. The publishers aren’t buying a book in isolation. They are buying ‘an author’ who they can build.

20.  Believe in yourself.

Few writers are overnight successes. Few writers have a smooth path. Even after publication there are dry spells. If you give up before you are published you will never be published.

Remember what they said on Galaxy Quest – Never give up. Never surrender!

Now take a look at your writing life, where are you falling down?

I’m struggling to make enough time to edit the book I’m trying to finish for ROR.

The Winner is ….

The winner of Nicole’s Murphy’s book ‘Secret Ones’  is Leanne C Taylor.

Leanne, Nicole will be contacting you soon for your address.

Book Launches

I have to rush today. I’m working John Birmingham’s launch of  After America at Avid Reader today (well, tonight, but it’s something of a trek into the city). I’ve got the easy job of setting up and taking down, and making sure the wine glasses are full, and I should be able to catch most of the show.

All this has gotten me thinking of book launches and what constitutes a successful launch. Obviously for the bookseller it’s sales of the book being launched, but also that people have a good time. For writers, a book launch is not just a chance to celebrate your book, but a way of sharing it with your friends and family. It’s the moment when the book becomes real, not just for you, but those around you. And it’s a chance to say thank you to all those people that have helped you along the way.

That said, I’ve been to (and worked at) some real stinkers.

To my mind, the best launches give you a taste of the book – but not too much – a sense of the writer (as a person not just someone that produces words) and a warm fuzzy feeling (which may or may not be the alcohol). Here’s a link to one of my favourite launches ever, I know, it’s at Avid (and I work there) but it was a great night.

What do you think constitutes a great book launch?