Belletrinsic

Many people liken writing a book to getting pregnant, which, unfortunately, is true on so many levels. The first initial spark is great, followed by the first dizzying weeks and months of writing the first draft. After the added pains of revising and rewriting, it’s time to hand that baby off to another individual who will take it the rest of the way toward publication. You’ll still be very involved in the process as this is your blood, sweat, and tears, but others step into the picture who have a little bit more experience with birthing books. (Okay, I’ll stop the analogy there.)

So what happens when you—joy of joys!—are finally accepted by a publisher for publication? Many things, most of which will be very foreign and new to you. Contracting is the first of those, but I’m going to skip over that topic for now. Let’s just assume you’ve signed on the dotted line (and hopefully not given your life away in the process).

–The next person you are likely to meet will be your editor. Now, remember this—your editor is the person you will deal with on an regular basis for the next few years. And, if you have a successful book and the publisher wants to continue working with you, it may be even longer than that.

While your editor will probably not become your best friend, nor, hopefully, your worst enemy, the relationship you foster will probably be somewhere in between the two extremes. There are times where you will love your editor for catching that potentially horrifying error (“Yes, there is an ‘l’ in public”), there will be other days where you might want to fight tooth and nail to keep that comma.

Through it all, remember that you are both human. Though she is very much a professional, she is not a superhero incapable of making a mistake. And even if you are an expert in your field, you don’t know everything, either.

So where does that leave the relationship you must build? Hopefully as a productive one, with a give and take. Talk to your editor when you have a question. If something your editor tells you in an email sends you to the heights of anger, wait to respond until you’ve calmed and can see things dispassionately. It is a business relationship, first and foremost, but one that is important for both of you.

–Once you meet your editor, you can expect that they will give you a schedule of dates when you will be expected to review the book and go through edits. You will also have an idea of when your book will be published, generally two years after it has been contracted, though it may be as soon as a year or more than three years until the publication date, depending on the publisher’s schedule.

There are a lot of factors that go into publication of books, so fighting to get yours published sooner is generally fruitless. In this tough economy, many books are being postponed until things rebound a bit. There’s nothing anyone can really do to control that, so be patient and know that your time will come soon enough.

Also, if you are planning to be gone most of the summer, let your editor know very early in the process. Vacations are wonderful, but they can really impact the schedule of your book. And if dates aren’t set in stone for time off and away from the computer, find out the book schedule so you can work around your editor’s needs. Honestly, it will save you both from a lot of hassle later on down the road.

–Understand that you will be required to work with your editor to make the text and the book as a whole the best possible. Yes, words will change and your favorite little scene may be cut. Your book may be too long to fit in the prescribed page count and you may have to trim it. These things happen.

Trust your editor when they make editorial changes. They have experience with editing all kinds of texts. If, however, you disagree with something they’ve changed, don’t become abusive of the stet. Instead, talk over things and try to understand why a change was made. Maybe your phrasing was awkward and there is another way to rewrite that you would like better.

–More often than not, your editor is working within constraints placed upon them by the publisher. They have to keep to a budget, so hiring that one illustrator from The New Yorker may not be possible. Work with them to find a good solution, and if you do get frustrated, let your editor know that—in a calm way. Explain why something isn’t working for you and see how you can come up with a compromise. Working with your editor instead of working against them will do more for your book and your relationship than you realize.

–One of the most frustrating aspects of getting your book published can be the design, both of the cover and the interior pages. You, as the writer, have don’t have much control over this. You can, however, discuss these things with your editor and see if a solution can be reached.

If it is the worst cover you have ever seen in your life, calm down a bit and tell your editor in a reasonable, detailed manner what exactly it is that bothers you. Declarations of “It’s ugly!” will get you nowhere. Is the font size and color wrong for the book? Tell them that. Do you not like the model they chose for the cover? Explain why. Don’t just brush it off as a total failure. I have seen some covers and designs that weren’t terribly attractive in the beginning become something extraordinary by a few small changes. Instead of demanding it be redesigned, discuss a few small changes that the publisher would be willing to make.

–There are numerous other aspects of working toward publication that I don’t have time to address right now. (If you do have questions, leave a comment and I’ll post about them later.) The thing to remember is that just about everyone you’ll come in contact with in the publishing world is there because they love books and want yours to succeed. Work with them and not against them and you can expect to have a good experience and produce a fantastic book.

Well, I got bored tonight, and as it often happens when I’m bored, I turned to the Internet to entertain me. This night it was Twitter that saved the evening with a fun little exercise in very, very flash fiction.

In essence, we told stories using 140 characters or less, per Twitter. I know it’s not a new thing, but I find it a great skill to write succinctly.

The most famous of the succinct fiction would have to be Hemingway’s six-word story:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

It is rather intriguing to put a story into so few words. Here are a few that we came up with tonight:

The plane landed, no one to greet her. Walking the tarmac, she knew what it was to be alone for the first time and for the rest of her life. —me

Cool, crisp and sweetly exotic. One satisfying bite and she had brought damnation upon the world. —me

You were just bitten by a laptop?” He asked..”I guess you’ll have to go home and crash now.” So I did, and lost my memory.” —HECurtis_author

She threw the spatula, glaring as It quivered where it stuck in the wall. Tears dripped as she searched the empty cupboards —Cassidy_McKay

We held hands for the first time while staring into the abyss. You kissed my cheek whispering, “This is how the world ends.” —jimmyjacobson

What are your very short stories?

Edit: Our next very flash fiction day will be this Saturday, April 25. Sharpen your wits and join us at the #tinyfic hashtag on Twitter. Need help joining Twitter? Leave me a comment and I’ll give you a tutorial.

Well, I finished the first draft of Jessamine in three and a half weeks. Woo. I had planned a big blog post about how I’d done it, yada yada yada. But I’m so tired after being sick this week, it’s all I can do to write. I ended at 48,000 words, which is just under what I was aiming for. But with the revisions, I’ll be filling out a lot of places that I skimmed over while writing the first draft. It should be a decent length for a YA novel, though.

So now it’s onto the sequel, which I’m calling Lady Jasmine for want of a better name. It’ll work for now. I’m about 4,000 words in, and I want to keep writing. That’s always a good thing, in my book. That means I’ll be signing off here and get back to writing. Let’s see if I can get this one onto the computer screen in even less time. (I did take about a week off as a break, so no breaks equals more productivity.)

Here we go . . .

In our new-fangled, sparkly world of instant communication, lines tend to blur. I’m starting to notice that blurring in my own life as I participate in several forms of social networking.

During the daytime, I’m a nonfiction book editor. I like my job; it’s fulfilling taking someone’s words and polishing them up a little brighter and making beautiful books. I don’t Twitter or Facebook during the day so I can focus on the work at hand. (With the minor exception of checking messages during lunch, and maybe responding to a few.)

At night, I write YA fiction books, and it’s something I’m very passionate about. Often I spend my evening hours writing, editing, and networking with other writers and publishing professionals online.

But I also have a social life (sort of). I have friends, roommates, and family, all of whom I keep up with on Facebook because it’s easy to see what people are doing and to send a quick note saying hi. (I also talk to them in real time, but for the purpose of this discussion, I do communicate with them frequently online.)

And now that it’s known that I’m an editor on Twitter, I am starting to get a following interested in knowing about the publishing world as well.

My problem? I use the same social networking sites to communicate with these four different groups of people. This is where the blurring comes in. Because I want my friends and family to find me, I use my real name, and since co-workers and authors I edit know my name, they find me the same way.

For a time I used a pseudonym for my writing to keep these different aspects of my life separate. But now that I’m querying agents and seeking to have my writing published, I decided to use my real name for this as well. This is where the blurring becomes more of a tangled web.

This morning, another aspect of my lines crossed as a well-known querying website posted a list with my name and company on it. (I’m not upset, just rather surprised that they found that information.) I’d tried to keep where I worked private because I was worried about the additional blurring. Since it is now out of my control, I’ll have to make sure that those lines don’t compete with others.

In some ways it’s fun to have all the aspects of my life in a few places that are easy for me to check, but it can be a big headache in other ways. When I tweet, I do so more about my personal life and my writing.

How do I juggle all these things without upsetting one group or another? I’m not sure. I’m testing these potentially tempestuous waters for the first time, as are many. There are some very vocal writers who don’t like knowing anything personal about the agents or editors they follow on Twitter; they’re following to get industry information and don’t want to hear that they have personal lives as well.

Lines are crossing, blurring, and twisting with all these new social media. It can be tough making sure that everyone is pleased, but you’re not going to be able to do it perfectly all the time. People will get upset. And if I’ve upset anyone with the blurring of my own lines, I do apologize. But at this point, I’m going to keep moving forward because I see a lot of benefit from participating in social media.

That said, I don’t tweet specifics about work; I don’t really tweet about work at all. If I do post anything related to editing, it will be knowledge I’ve learned without giving specific examples. My authors trust me not to divulge information about them or their work, and I’m not going to betray that trust. (And if any of the authors I work with are worried after reading this post, please call or email me and we can discuss.)

I will tweet about my personal life, though I try to keep the mundane out of it as much as possible. Knowing me, though, some of it is likely to slip in.

And my writing will be a good part of what I share, especially as I go through the same process of querying and writing and revising as so many other authors out there.

So this is my way of telling my Twitter followers and anyone I know personally that I don’t share information that is not mine to share. You needn’t worry. And if you ever feel like I’ve crossed one of these lines, let me know. I’d rather clear the air than let anything languish.

(And just so everyone knows, I’m writing this at home, sick. I was pondering it a lot since I’ve nothing else to do of at the moment, but I don’t want anyone to think I’m neglecting work.)

As most of you know, I’m a nonfiction editor, but I also write YA novels in the off hours. This gives me an interesting perspective on the publishing world. One of the most interesting aspects is that I frequently go through the slush pile at work, handling the children’s book manuscripts that come to us. As an editor, it’s just part of the job. But as a writer, it has given me invaluable insight into the whole process, some of which I’d like to share with you.

1) I know the majority of writers will never have the chance to go through slush, but the opportunity presented by Nathan Bransford during Agent for a Day was really eye-opening for many. Reading what other people are doing and evaluating it critically teaches so much about the writing craft.

By the same token, participating in writing groups and online writers forums are excellent ways to develop those necessary critiquing skills. Once we learn how to evaluate others’ writing in a professional, objective manner, we can start to look at our own writing in the same way. I know we’ll never be completely distanced from the words we birth, but learning to see your manuscript as an editor or agent will see it will offer you that needed perspective to make your writing that much better.

2) In going through the slush, you see everything, from good to bad to laughable. Especially with children’s books, you find that people sit at home, type out a story in a few minutes, and think it’s ready for publication. It’s not that easy. Writing is a business, and if you really want to succeed at it, you have to think of it that way.

For me, writing is my second full-time job. I have time to devote to it since I’m single without children, so for many others it might be a part-time job. But you must think of it as a career, and not a hobby. Of course you need to think creatively if you are to write, but you must structure your writing time like any businessman would. In addition, rewriting and revising are essential, but many writers don’t think of it that way. Grammar is necessary, as are following established writing rules. Treat your writing like a creatively based business, and see how your thoughts on it will change.

3) #Queryday on Twitter offered so much advice on writing queries that I’m not going to rehash the things said here. But I will say that if I guessed, about 90% of the queries I receive do not follow the established rules. As I said above, most of the queries I see for children’s manuscripts consider it a hobby, and so they don’t put forth the time and research necessary to write a query properly.

Present yourself as a writing professional. If you do that, many of the query fatal errors that are committed wouldn’t happen. Do your homework and you’ll have a far greater chance at success than otherwise.

4) The last thing I want to mention is that going through the slush can be humorous. You wouldn’t believe some of the things people write. (You really wouldn’t.) But more than that, it has taught me to respect writers and editors and agents. It is work to write a good, well-crafted, interesting story. Even more than that, it takes effort to turn those stories into salable products, which is what books are when it comes down to it.

So please, if you participate in any way in the publishing industry, learn respect for the others who are working in the same industry. Opinions and ways of doing things vary, but we all have the same essential goal: to make the best books possible. That’s really what it’s all about. So the next time you get frustrated at agents who reject your manuscript, editors who want to slash and hack their way through your words, or writers who make basic mistakes, remember that they have the same goal in mind. And each of them pours in blood, sweat, and tears to get it there, so respect that and the person behind the effort.

I just finished reading a blog post from a writer filled with so much poison toward agents, I now feel sick to my stomach. I won’t link to it because I don’t feel it deserves so much attention, but I’d really like to say a few things about how harmful and unsuccessful it is to blame a group of business people for your failings as a writer.

I’m no expert when it comes to writing. I’m the first to profess that I’m still learning, and will be learning until the day I die. I love to find a new way to say something or realize during the editing process that I actually did something well. I hope I never get to the point where I see myself as an expert and therefore know everything there is to know about writing. That will be the day my writing dies.

The reason for that is writing, like any creative effort, comes with experimentation, with learning and constantly growing. You can tell the best writers by what they say they don’t know and are striving to learn. Pride is the destroying factor when it comes to creativity; the moment we think we know everything is the moment we prove how little we know—and not in a good way.

I’m also more than willing to admit that I’m not a literary writer, but who, really, can tag themselves with such a label? In many minds, literary writing is akin to being a genius in other fields. The biggest fault I find among unpublished writers who say they are literary (and even some published writers with small presses) is an elitism that hampers their ability to write well. They think their own work so above other forms of literature that they disdain anything that sells well or appeals to any audience other than their own.

Vanity and pride are sins indeed when it comes to literature, and those who possess both set themselves up for certain failure. Their own writing will never stand up to that of the greats. A few trifling words of praise from a small-time book critic has done more to inflate some egos than a glowing review in The New York Times ever could have done. I find it egregious when someone compares their own writing to Steinbeck, Hemingway, Shakespeare, etc. Even then, those writers that we now call great have often been lambasted for their work. You can’t please everyone, and to think that somehow your book will do so is foolish vanity at its worst.

So when an individual so full of their own worth sees a system in place for finding new talent, they shudder that anyone dare reject their masterpiece. The system must be broken if their book is slighted. While the system isn’t perfect, it does work. But the writer must suck up their pride and learn to navigate a system in order to succeed. That’s the way it is, and blaming someone else for your inability to do so is stupidity.

Yes, there are many good writers out there who are still unpublished. Yes, publishing is a business, and everyone involved is looking to make money. Will spewing poison make the situation any better? No. Will skewering an easy scapegoat get you published? Definitely not.

You can’t have it both ways and win. Publishing may feel like a game to some, but unless you’re willing to play by the rules, you’ll never win. That’s pretty much how it is, in this and every other profession in the world.

Only when we’re willing to learn from others—including the literary agents who are the means to getting you published—will any of us ever find literary success.

So I went camping this weekend and was fully prepared to write my life away with laptop and modes of charging said laptop and notebooks in case said laptop decided it didn’t want to charge. But when I got there, I had no desire to write. Instead, I was content to sit around the fire and talk with my family and enjoy being outside.

I have two thoughts on what this could mean: a) I needed a short break from the frenzied pace I’ve been writing the past few weeks, or b) I’ve lost my mojo/writing juices/stamina.

Now it very well could be a combination of the two, but I’m leaning more toward option a. The reason for that is sometimes when I get excited about a project, I tend to go full-speed-ahead no matter what else may be in the way. I tend to be a hyper-focused person who likes to charge in and get things done. When I get an itch to write, I don’t like it when people interrupt that. It really annoys me, in fact.

But life has a way of interrupting my plans, and that usually involves me wearing myself out to the point where I get sick. I’ve been feeling really worn out since January when I started getting stomach bugs and the full-fledged flu, but still I pressed on with my various writing projects. Even when I started getting sick a few weeks ago, I kept at my writing efforts.

This single-mindedness can get things done, but it can also be a detriment to my already-precarious health. Besides, I was getting stuck as to what my characters were to do immediately, anyway, so a little time and distance can help move things along.

I’m definitely going to jump back into writing starting tomorrow, but I think writers in general can benefit from taking a break and completely forgetting what the latest writing project is. We get so wrapped up in our imaginary worlds, we sometimes forget that there is a real one surrounding us that needs our attention as well.

So, the point of all this is that I’m pretty sure I haven’t lost anything other than time in my little break and have instead gained some sanity and needed distance and perspective on the whole project.

I was thinking this morning as I lay in bed that everyone loves a good adventure story. Most of the time when people think of adventure, danger, and fighting in stories, they think of the the male dominated ones with war, blood, and violence. But if you take a look at some of the popular stories for women, there is a definite trend toward action and adventure, but with a slightly different motive.

I’m a big fan of girls kicking butt movies. One prime example: Tomb Raider. I love seeing strong female characters who can hold their own and even outwit their male counterparts. Alias and Buffy were popular shows for this reason as well. Women, who have been rendered powerless for so long in most cultures around the world, are fighting back, and the stereotypical female character needing saving is the first one to go.

Recent books are rife with strong female leads who must save themselves because the men are too clueless to do it for them. Some of my favorite teen romance stories involve heroines who are thrust into the spotlight and action because the man isn’t there to save them. A few examples: Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale, and Crown Duel, by Sherwood Smith. Both girls take an active role in saving themselves and their kingdoms because the men can’t figure out how to do it. Yes, there is the obvious element of romance in these stories, but the key is that the women find a compatible match with an equally strong man and don’t settle for any brawny man who comes along to rescue them.

There is another trend in literature and movies that actually makes me nervous. That of the spineless heroine who can’t do anything without her man to rescue her, a la Twilight. Bella is the epitome of the whiny, annoying, spineless female character. But, if you actually made it to the fourth book, you’ll notice that Bella actually does grow a spine in addition to those fangs. So even a wimpy female lead learns how to fight back, though too late for many women to care because of the first three nausea inducing books.

The main difference between action focused on men and that focused on women is the need for romance. Men want sex, women want to be swept off their feet (but that doesn’t necessarily mean rescued). While men will be content to watch Angelina Jolie kick some man’s butt because she’s wearing a skin-tight outfit, women want to see her find her perfect match—after she’s done a little butt-kicking.

That’s a really long ramble, but my point is that women like adventure as much as men. A lot less blood and guts, for sure, but there’s a part of us that wants the men to let us join them in their world-saving efforts and kick a little trash of our own. Besides, a little action is great fodder for romantic entanglements, and who couldn’t use a few of those.

I had an interesting discussion the other day with a friend who is pregnant, and the topic turned to how some babies seem to require so much energy from their mothers while still in the womb. She mentioned the last Twilight book, and how it was like a vampire baby, taking all the life of the mother.

Now, she’s very excited to have a child, and it was just an interesting and funny conversation, but I can’t help thinking of how that relates to writing, and mine in particular.

For the past two weeks I’ve been writing feverishly. My newest book has taken on its own life and consumed me. I can’t seem to do anything else at night or on the weekends but write. Any other activity feels like I’m wasting time when I could be writing.

This very well could be my ability to hyperfocus on just about anything. I really do have a one-track mind when it comes to something I’m passionate about. But I wonder if other writers ever experience this. Does writing your book, or thinking of plot, or brainstorming characters ever become so all-consuming that it’s almost like the booking is sucking the life out of you so that it can live?

That’s what I’m experiencing now, and though draining, it is exhilarating. I love every minute that I can sit, unfettered and unbothered, and write until the words dry up for the night. But then I go to bed and can’t sleep because I’m thinking about what happens next, what turmoils my characters are facing. I’m living vicariously through them for a time, but it really does feel like I’m living a life much more exciting than my own.

I’m almost sad for when that time will end, but I’ve a few weeks yet before the story is completed and I start into the revision process. But as a writer, I know I’ll jump right back into another story when the time is right, ready to give my life over to another mewling book desperate for its creators attention.

Yes, I am guilty. I am very mean to my characters. Unbelievably mean to them. First I make them fall in love when they don’t want to, and then I break their hearts. How cruel is that?

The funny thing is, I’m feeling really guilty about it as well. I think with all the intense writing I’ve done these past week and a half (33,000 words and 125 pages in that time), I’ve gotten so emotionally involved with the characters. Too involved, actually, to the point where it makes me cry to think of what I’m going to do to them.

I really am a sap. I bawled while writing certain scenes in my last book, and even cried again while revising. Now I’m crying just thinking about what I’m going to do to the new characters.

Really, it makes me think of the movie Stranger than Fiction. I can completely understand the writer agonizing over killing her characters after realizing that one of them is real. My characters feel real to me. They become like myself, probably because they are a part of me.

Am I alone in this? Do any of you writers get so attached to your characters that it wounds your heart to break theirs?

Maybe I’m too emotional, but I’m thinking that it probably is a benefit as a writer. When I become part of the story, live the story, it makes it better in the end. At least I think so.

So I’m off to cry some more as I think of all the horrible tricks I’m about to play on my characters. But, being the soft-hearted person I am, I can remind myself that it will all work out well for them in the end. They may hate me, but I can live with that.