Q & A

There was a question left on the wall of my filedby page which basically said: Do you have any general info/advice that I could start with toward publication?

This is a huge topic, so I'm going with the single most important thing a person can do for their manuscript. Assuming the story is compelling and the basic writing skills have been employed -- this is the 'fix' that can get an ms noticed.

Now that nearly anyone with a computer and a few word processing skills, with discipline, can crank out 80,000 words. The key is to be very completive when you shop your ms to a literary agent or a publisher. You need a killer query letter -- and I'm not the person to ask about writing query letters.

Here are a few basics to clean up the ms to make it look professional. The easiest and rarely found on the Internet or books is that there is only one space between sentences in an ms. Yep. Wild, isn't it? Put two spaces in the search function of your word processing program. In the 'replace' space put in one space. Swap the spaces in the whole ms.

Next, another easy fix, double space the lines. Those are the two big cosmetic items. Their importance is purely a matter of passing through the visual test that the writer has a clue and the ms should make it to the next test -- actually reading it!

The thing to know about these readers is they are pros and they are human beings -- greatly overworked and often brilliant human beings. So give them a killer first line. Open with a memorable line. Delete long (or short) descriptions (bios) of your characters. Don't describe the setting except in terms of the impact or interaction of the setting in relationship to the character. Move the story forward.

Be careful with flashbacks. Start the story at the beginning of that story. Forget backstory. Seriously. Forget backstory. Make your story show what makes your characters 'tick' -- why they do what they do. Backstory is telling and telling in the early pages of your ms will be the kiss of death to getting the whole thing read by that very important person you want to love your story.

So go through the ms word by word, sentence by sentence, from the beginning to end. Do it several times. Read it aloud. If you can corner someone to sit through a full reading with a copy for them and for you, then do it. Bribe them. They will stop you when you read it different from how you wrote it. Look carefully at that part because how you said it, particularly in dialogue sections, is most likely better than how you wrote it.

Clean the ms as best you can following the above instructions. Ask a friend or two to read it and comment honestly. Tell them that 'loving it' doesn't help you. You want them to look for disconnected timelines, out of character behaviors that do not fit with moving the story forward. Was the story satisfying? Ask them to mark places they got bored - those are places to look closely for telling or other bad habits that stop the story. Make the fixes and ask another friend or two to read it for you with similar instructions.

Hire a proof reader to make the basic grammar corrections. A proof reader usually costs less than an editor and if the story is sound, that is all you need done.

Then submit your ms to well researched targets, whether they are lit agents or publishers who don't require an agent. If your ms looks professional (minus the basic amateur mistakes in formatting) and reads well, the story has a shot at doing its job to land a contract to publish.

Questions? I'll try to answer or find someone who can.

My filedby page: http://www.filedby.com/author/nadine_laman/2238025

Pop Quiz?

What happens if you write a guest blog about typesetters and send it to a very bright Argentinean teen?

You have to look at this. It made me laugh at what she did to my plain ol' email submission. Please leave her a comment. (Click on the first line below the date after the last comment.)

Introducing the bright, talented, beautiful -- Ella!

http://theclockmonkey2.blogspot.com/2009/10/author-guest-post-nadine-laman.html

Winter Preparations

All the Arizona periodicals have pictures of the fall colors. Some of the neighbors have been busy closing their cabin for the winter. I hear others out cutting wood.

We have been in a mood of cleaning the garage (not me), rearranging furniture in three rooms (not my idea either, but I love the results), and getting set for a comfortable winter. I've been looking for lily bulbs, but always get pointed to the tulips. Almost everything here in the mountains strikes me as comical.

It isn't so funny to give readers tulips when they are looking for lilies. I've been thinking a lot about the list I want to build for Cactus Rain as I wash windows (my idea) and clean rain gutters of pine needles. I'm aiming for the top end of the 'mid list' and expect that my writers will go on to great things.

It is exciting to redesign the wheel in a way that makes sense for a modern world. Besides the technology advances, publishing hasn't changed much for 150 years. I think it is about time for that change. Don't you?

Cactus Rain Publishing

If you read my October newsletter, you know that I'm launching Cactus Rain Publishing. The letter came back from the Arizona Corporation Commission approving the Limited Liability Company for Cactus Rain Publishing. All that is left to do officially is to publish the legal notice in the newspaper, then file the affidavit of publication with the AZ Corporation Commission.

Cactus Rain Publishing is a boutique publisher specializing in distinctive voices in novels for adult readers. Cactus Rain Publishing is going to reinvent the idea of a small press. In the search for the highest standard in writing and publishing, both the work and author will be vetted. Most of the writers will be foreign authors writing in English, but there will be other surprises on the website once it is launched.

The writing will be fresh and unique for an American publisher. And the writer will actually make money for the hours, weeks, years of work to bring a story to life for the enjoyment of their readers. No lit agent required, but the query letter should be stellar and make me ask for a one page synopsis.

Joyce (DesignByJoyce.com) has started working on the CactusRainPublishing.com website. Currently the URL redirects to my personal website. Just wait until you see what she is doing! OMGosh!

I have bids for the logo. The contract is back from the lawyer. And I'm working with the debut author to begin the 2010 catalogue. There will be online sales and I'm working on securing real distribution with a distributor who has impressed me for years.

So that's my excuse for not having another ms written. What do you think about that news? Questions?

Storytelling

Last Saturday I was in Phoenix and had lunch with Joy Collins and Cathy Marley. We met at the Glendale Olive Garden for a chance to catch up, talk shop, and have the Olive Garden's fabulous salad -- plus I was delivering their copies of the Blog Party Book.

We did the usual, "How have you been?" conversation. Cathy asked how I'm doing in Pine. I told a few stories, mostly about the javelina. They were very active last week. Joy and Cathy told about the javelina attacks in Sedona -- thank God, Sedona isn't too near Pine. Actually, they told me lots more about javelina than I really wanted to know.

One thing for sure, those are large, stocky animals and have the reputation of being quite dangerous -- which I believe without a doubt. I was trying to describe the sound they make when they call to each other, it is more like a scream. I'm more sure of it after being outside a few minutes ago hearing one a few houses away.

They seem to have a territory, like most animals. Every few days their travels bring them by Jean's house (where I'm staying). One will call, then another, another, and another -- from every direction, it seems. I think they are saying, "Hey guys, let's go meet at Jean's house and scare the beejeebies out of Nadine."

The other night it sounded like a dance troupe was on the front deck, dancing the Jitter Bug. At first I was sure people were coming to the door -- in the middle of the night. It took forever for Jean's dog to wake up and bark until they left. (Some watch dog!)

Anyway, Joy said javelina's have poor eyesight. I couldn't help going with that and explaining how, because the cabin is built on a mountain, one end of the deck has quite a bit of clearance, while the part that turns and runs across the front of the house ends close to the ground.

As the javelina come up the mountain, they walk under the deck. Since they are the size of a large dog, only more stout in stature, (with the poor eyesight and all) they must be smacking their forehead on the cross beams of the deck. Thump, thump, thump...until there is a really loud one and they must reach the end of their ability to go any farther -- I'm not going out to check, so I'm just guessing, because I see them come out from the side of the deck, form into a group again and head across the road. I was a bit dramatic telling the story, hand to forehead with each "Thump."

Joy and Cathy think I should write these stories down. (There were other stories about local customs and a few colorful people I've met.) I might tell a few of the animal stories from time to time, but I best not tell too much about the locals if I want to stay here a while.

If anyone is interested, there are 4 copies of the Blog Party book left. http://nadinelamanbooks.com/books.html

Find Joy here: http://www.joycollins.com/
Find Cathy here: http://www.cathymarley.com/

More about Javalina:
http://www.azgfd.gov/video/javelina.shtml
http://www.azgfd.gov/w_c/urban_javelina.shtml
http://www.azgfd.gov/h_f/game_javelina.shtml

Now we all know more about Javalina than we really need to know.

Ivana's Interview

I cannot fully express my appreciation for the people who support and encourage me. One friendship I treasure is with Ivana Marić in Croatia. Ivana blogs at Willing To See Less. Here is an interview she did recently. Nadine

My guest blogger today is Nadine Laman, a wonderful author and a very dear friend of mine. Our friendship started some three months ago, when I discovered FiledBy, a social network for authors and readers to meet. Nadine is a writing mentor and a personal cheerleader, often a shoulder to cry on. I am glad to have met her and to have read and reviewed her books, Kathryn's Beach, High Tide and Storm Surge. Today, Nadine is answering some of my questions on the trilogy and the writing process.

Q: Tell us how Kathryn's Beach was born!
A: Kathryn's Beach began as a short story banged out and emailed to a friend who had "cabin fever" during an ice storm. The friend wanted more, and the novel was born. In 21 days, I emailed a chapter or two to her each night until the draft of the story was finished.
Once my friend pushed for more story, I got serious about Kathryn's story and used the skills I had learned in writing classes to transform it into a novel.

Q: At that time, did anyone know you were writing?
A: Until that time, no one except my husband knew I wrote. I'm not sure he read any of my works, but he knew I wrote a short story a night after our boys were in bed and the house was quiet.

Q: Did you encounter any difficulties in writing Kathryn's story? Were there any obstacles in getting the books published?
A: The difficulty was that I had type cast Kathryn as a wounded person in search of redemption from the responsibility she felt for the death of one of her young clients. It was a balancing act to push her to move forward for answers and keep her wounded an appropriate amount of time. The dilemma became writing a weak character without making the writing weak. To complicate matters, I had set it as literary fiction - one of the least popular genre.That was almost a sure way to make certain that the book would never be published. Not to mention that writing in first person, present tense is a terrible idea. It has no commercial appeal. The books have been turned down because they were written in first person, sight unseen.

Q: How did Kathryn's Beach grow into a trilogy?
A: My friend asked for more, for a second book. At that point I knew there had to be a third book to finish the story; a beginning, middle, and end - the first rule of writing.The question was then, how to make each book complete, unique, and lead to the end of the third book that not only was satisfactory as an end to the book, but to the trilogy as a whole.

Q: You mentioned Kathryn's Beach was originally a short story. Was it difficult to expand it into a full-size novel--a trilogy, to be exact?
A: What saved me in transitioning from a short story writer to a trilogy of novels, was the writing classes I had taken at university. I suppose it can happen that a writer has an innate sense of writing, but most of the time, the tools of the craft set the foundation for becoming a novelist.

Q: You are very supportive towards novice writers. What is the best advice you can give to us who are just starting out?
A:I believe anyone can write, but to write well a person has to learn the skills of the craft: character development, dialogue, pacing, story line with arcs, literary devices. These are not hard skills to learn and it only takes a bit of discipline to apply them and the guts to write so that it can withstand the reader's test.

Thank you for being my guest today, Nadine, and for doing this interview!

This is a blog to be followed and a writer to anticipate her debut novel, Ivana Marić http://willingtoseeless.blogspot.com/2009/10/guest-author-nadine-laman.html

Buzz-Buzz, Book Buzz

Storm Surge
Nadine Laman
Nadine Laman Books (2009)
ISBN 9780982332122
Reviewed by Cherie Fisher for Reader Views (10/09)

It was a nice surprise to see that Nadine Laman finished her third book in the Kathryn McKenzie series. The first two books in the series are “Kathryn’s Beach” and “High Tide.” You do not need to read the other two before this one, but I highly recommend that you do not miss them. As with the first two books, this one does not disappoint.

“Storm Surge” takes place four years after “High Tide.” The story begins with Kathryn getting the surprise of a lifetime when her Grandfather McKenzie publicly announces his retirement and appoints her to take over the family empire. This sends the press into a feeding frenzy and she knows that the quiet life that she has built for herself has come to an end. As she comes to terms with the changes, she leaves the job that she has had for several years and has come to love as a Social Worker at St. Mark’s convent.

As Kathryn leaves her beloved beach behind to move into her new position and the family mansion, she finds herself cleaning up her cousins’ messes and that she is less than welcome by them. She also begins to unravel family secrets, threats to her life and very suspicious corporate activity. Just one of those issues would be enough for anyone to handle, but Kathryn must meet them all head on. As usual, with large doses of her prized coffee, she does beautifully.

As Kathryn faces all these challenges, she is confronted with her own health challenges and must dig deeper than she ever has to deal with them. As she does, she learns who she can really trust in her life and that being courageous is the only thing that will get her through.

“Storm Surge” is very well written and as usual with Nadine Laman’s work, I did not want it to end. Hopefully, we will see more of her work in the near future.

Link: http://www.readerviews.com/ReviewLamanStormSurge.html

Free Book Offer

Here is an offer from my good friend Joy Collins.

Nadine,
We are trying a crazy thing to try to get COMING TOGETHER into the hands of more people. Could you blog this or send it out to your mailing list?
Thanks a bunch.
Joy

Here ya go, Joy!

Chalet Publishers is giving away free e-copies of their new novel COMING TOGETHER - A story of love and intrigue in Rio!

We know once you read it you will fall in love with Daisy and Luis and Rio.

This offer is good from 12:01 AM (today) October 14, 09 to 6 PM October 16, 09 Pacific Time. (Pacific time is -8 hrs GMT)

So, if you would like to have your free copy of Coming Together, send a blank email during that time frame to chaletpublishers@cox.net. Put FREE BOOK in the subject line.

We will send a PDF version of the book back to you by return mail.

Chalet wants to give books away! So, tell your friends about this novel and they will also receive one by emailing us.

There are no gimmicks. Just good will and total belief in a book we know you won’t soon forget!

This is simply our gift to you.

Don’t look for strings attached.

There aren’t any!

Personal note: Joy doesn't know (unless she reads this) I'm reading Coming Together now. How's that for coincidence? Pretty cool, eh?

Confessions, Endorsements, Disclaimers, and other stuff

I mentioned last Friday that I might disclose a possible conflict of interest endorsement this week. Well, here it is.

Months ago I was looking for my old book covers on the internet and going through changing the ones I could to the new covers.

I found filedby.com and signed up (free) so I could edit the cover art for my books. I emailed 'help' to add Storm Surge and change the publisher info (I couldn't do that myself).

A conversation ensued with Renae at Filedby and as I do with many beta sites, I gave feedback. She was prompt at helping me make the changes on my books. So I got interested in the site because the regular social networks I'd tried (as we're supposed to) didn't 'flip my cookie.'

I thought (and have said) filedby was what I was looking for in a site to chat with my readers about my books. No silly games and quizzes and I was not limited to 140 characters. My books aren't on amazon so reviews can't be posted there. I encouraged people to meet me on my page and chat with me or post reviews of my books on my fan site at Filedby.com.

Well anyway, I guess my input was useful to the filedby people, they certainly said Thank You often enough. (Very nice people - did I mention?)

One day they sent an email saying they had upgraded my free basic account to Premium Plus.They never said why they did that, as far as I remember it was sort of a group hug thing. They never asked for anything in return from me.

Of course I'm going to continue to tell them what I like and what doesn't work for me - that's what I do. The upgrade makes no difference in my opinion of their site. Filedby works for me and I like what it adds to my portfolio.

My Filedby page: http://filedby.com/author/nadine_laman/2238025

Filedby membership info: http://filedby.com/service/membership/matrix/

Human Resilience and Character Development

Writer, Susan Gabriel is a family therapist and I am a social worker (and a writer). Anyway, last week we were talking about human resilience. Since then, I've been thinking all weekend about resilience.

I have no problem putting down a novel (or throwing it in the trash) after reading less than the first chapter. I don't like reading. I read for information not recreation, even if it is fiction. If the writing is flat and boring me to death, then I'm done. (Unfortunately, I have the same reaction to real people - unless they are my clients.)

So what do I want to see in writing? Humanity. Whether the novel is about human people or fantasy people, I want to see human qualities. Here again, I'm back to crashing the urban myth that to learn to write well one must read [in their genre].

I'm probably going to be denounced by the powers that be, but that is like telling someone that they must go to art museums to learn to paint or sculpt. First you have to learn the techniques then go observe how others have applied them.

There is a certain amount of observation of people one can do. However, if you want to learn about people, then read a book on basic human growth and development. Take a psych 101 class. Don't just copy what you read in other writer's works - they might have it all wrong.

What's this have to do with resilience? Everything. What does this have to do with character development? It means I think that the standard advice is flawed. That is the wrong kind of research to do if you want to be a great writer. For one thing, most of the books out there really aren't that good, regardless of the sales records (that just reflects on the effectiveness of the marketing).

A few years ago one of the television networks ran promos that good television was all about drama. I'd add that it was about HUMAN drama. You have to understand resilience to know how to push your characters beyond their strengths, have them react, regroup, and succeed.

In high school senior English/college prep English, Miss Barbee made us identify the flat and round (well rounded) characters in everything we read that year. Not every character should be well rounded - who really cares what the waiter looked like?

You have to write in 3D (three dimensional) - flat, round, and very round main character (like not everything in a painting is in the foreground). While you are telling a lovely story with perfect pitch in the plot, sub-plot, and all the elements of writing, push your MC and make them interesting. Make them human. They can't just survive, they have to thrive and you can't make the obstacles too easy.

So back to the reading bit to learn to write (to tie up the loose ends in this post). AFTER you learn the techniques then read as a writing student. Look at how the techniques were applied. Or...read for enjoyment and quit justifying it by thinking you are learning to write.

Susan Gabriel: http://www.susangabriel.com/