J.T. Ellison's Blog, page 15
December 8, 2023
Friday Reads 12.8.23
Happy Friday, friends, and Happy Hannukah. Let’s talk about what we’re reading!
First a quick PSA: the ebook of IT’S ONE OF US is on a Bookbub special this week!
We had an amazing Tuesday that started with Ariel getting the Good Morning America Bookclub pick and ended with her event at Parnassus, where the literary who’s who of Nashville showed to mix and mingle. A great time was had by all. I hope you’ve all gotten your copies of THE FROZEN RIVER!
It was a good reading week, which is always nice. I finished up my buddy’s horror novel, then switched over to a highly anticipated novella from one of my favorites, Lisa Unger. CHRISTMAS PRESENTS is nuanced and complex and reads more like a full-length novel. I’m always in awe of Lisa’s finely drawn characters, and Maddie, Badger, Evan, and Harley are no exception. Great stuff.
Last night, we watched A HAUNTING IN VENICE, and though it’s supposed to be a cozy, I found it undeniably creepy. Much more suited to Halloween. In case of nightmares, I started Rebecca Yarros’s IN THE LIKELY EVENT, which I’d been saving for a moment when I wasn’t about to get on a plane. (I’m weird about plane books. Why invite the possibility of that kind of tragedy into my life?)
I’ll admit, I’m entranced with Yarros right now, both her writing and her personal journey, which is hitting closer to home than you can possibly imagine. I’ll talk more about that in another post, but suffice it to say she has changed the course of my life.
I have a few more in the queue for the next week:
A new Allison Brennan, YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME, the first in her new PI series;
Cara Hunter’s MURDER IN THE FAMILY, which looked clever and excellent;
A long overdue look at Merlin Sheldrake’s ENTANGLED LIFE, which was recommended to me by my pal Jayne Ann Krentz and I’ve been saving. And in that vein, another one I’ve been waiting to read, Peter Wohlleben’s THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TREES. My new book, HLN, takes place in a small isolated town, surrounded by woods, and I figure both of these books are perfect to help bring that setting to life.
That’s it from me this week. How about you? What’s on your reading plate this weekend?
PS: I was feeling the narrative non-fiction vibe this week. Here’s a new essay for all subscribers questioning the value of comparison and genres, and a new craft post on how I organize my files will go out to paid subscribers on Sunday….
December 6, 2023
"When You Are Content Not To Compare or Compete..."
I was recently on a writer’s retreat, and one of the awesome women attending was well-versed in non-fiction. Writing and marketing a non-fiction title is very different from the fiction process, so I was interested to hear how she and her team go about it.
After one of our break discussions, I was sitting around procrastinating — ahem, sometimes it’s hard to drag yourself from fascinating conversations back to the page, and it’s better to do some work instead of staring out the window at the gorgeous scenery, so that’s why I was writing a blog instead of my book — but I digress. I was really more thinking than procrastinating, and the most wonderful idea came to me.
What if *I* wrote non-fiction?
Photo by J.T. Ellison, September 2023, Library of Trinity College, DublinI scuttled the thought almost immediately. My friend is exceptionally intuitive, and her non-fiction work is fascinating. But So. Much. Work. Blogging is about as far into non-fiction as I’ve been comfortable going. Many of the essays I write are just for fun, or my own edification, or yours, or just free journaling. I find writing about writing and the thought process behind it helps me clarify my fiction in ways nothing else can. And some of these clarifications I believe can actually help new writers on their journey, and so I may, one of these days, compile the ones I feel are worthy into a book. My craft series, 22 Steps, is the most likely path to this endeavor. And yes, obviously, that does qualify as writing non-fiction.
But what cracked me up was the thought that I defaulted to immediately: Writing fiction is easy and writing non-fiction is hard.
Guess what? That’s just not true.
I have some more brilliant friends who write fiction that fall into the category of books that I feel matter. They matter to society in general; they matter to the readers who learn from them. Some are literary, but most are from the historical fiction realm—and let me tell you, that sort of fiction is not easy. It takes years and grit and passion. It’s not simply entertainment; it’s resurrection. They’re bringing people from the past back to life. I find this fascinating in too many ways to explain properly.
Cecelia Tichi was the first historical writer I met during my journeys. She was in my first critique group. The work she put into her books was staggering. Then I met Ariel Lawhon, and Patti Callahan Henry, and lived through a few books with them, too. I stand in awe of their devotion to a single topic or person for years at a time. It blows my mind as much as writing the kind of narrative non-fiction from some of my favorites: Erik Larsen, David Grann, Joan Didion, Anne Bogel, Robert Kolker, Cal Newport, Mary Beard, Karen Armstrong. Such dedication. Such immersion.
Writing mysteries and thrillers and suspense also takes brains, and grit, and passion. There is almost always a deeper message to the stories; the reader is taken along on explorations of darkness and confusion that shed light on the whys of our psychology. It is a vital source of reasoning. These stories show the myriad ways we reconcile our humanity with the horrors that happen to us. They matter, too, just as much as resurrecting a forgotten hero or inspiring scientific discovery. That they don’t take as long to write isn’t a function of their worth, simply their need for a snappy pace to keep the reader engaged.
And fantasy, especially science fiction…the value of a book that gets in your head by creating an entirely new world, brings a longing for an epic romance, even gives scientists ideas on how to change the world—those stories matter. Romance matters. It’s important for young readers to get a realistic view of the world, but oh, to have the sublime ideal of a pure romance to disappear into? Not all of us are so lucky in our real lives to find our fated mates. There’s no reason not to find them in books.
I’ve always said our job as novelists is to set the cultural commentary. Think of Jane Austen, Daphne Du Maurier, Agatha Christie. We adore these stories because we’re able to experience the worlds we don’t know or understand, right? Some stand up to modern commentary better than others, but we need the slice of history that they share to know what mistakes to avoid in the future.
As artists, as writers, as creatives, as people, I think we all have our own strengths and naturally gravitate toward them—some people are brilliant novelists but crappy screenwriters, some people can paint but can’t carry a tune in a bucket. Some can do math, some can thread a needle in one go, some have dry wit, and others generous hearts. Some of us are business-oriented, and some have their heads in the clouds. I have yet to meet an artist who doesn’t see another’s strength without at least a momentary thought of — I wish I could do that.
I’ve thought about it at least five times this week alone. I wish I could sing. I wish I could relax and go with the flow. I wish I would listen more and talk less. I wish I could write something so special and dear that people around the world fall in love with it. I wish I was a runner. I wish I had this glorious kitchen I’m sitting in. I wish…. On, and on, and on.
“Comparison is the thief of joy,” Roosevelt said.
Lao Tzu has another gem: “When you are content not to compare or compete, everyone will respect you.”
But isn’t it simply human nature to compare? And also to feel the urge to compete? It’s why we interrupt when people speak, and why we try new things. Why we stop and have conversations with ourselves about things we’d like to do, places we’d like to be, behaviors we’d like to imitate. Isn’t comparison, in all its guises, a kinder companion than competitiveness? How else will we grow and change if not by listening and comparing when others speak about their experiences? To assimilate their words into our own frame of reference and come out the other side thinking–
I wish…
Because you know where I wish leads? To the finest spark known to creative kind….
What if…
Do you compare yourself to others? Does it drive you to greatness and to try new things? Or does it rob you of your joy and make you feel like you’re doing everything wrong?
December 1, 2023
Friday Reads 12.1.23
It’s the first Friday in December, friends, and you know what that means… let’s talk about what we’re reading!
I have an essential recommendation today for a book I read earlier in the year that is releasing on Tuesday, Ariel Lawhon’s THE FROZEN RIVER.
This book, people. It’s received just about every accolade there is already, and I’m sure there are more to come. On the surface, it’s a story about a midwife in 1789 Maine who’s never lost a mother. That’s how Ariel pitched it to me a decade ago. It is so much more. Martha Ballard is a bonafide badass, and Ariel has created a heroine as compelling as Claire Fraser from Outlander. You will love it. Trust me and grab your copy when it goes on sale Tuesday!
It is the first of December, and that means many things are happening. I got home from the family trip to Italy last night, and I am ready to jump into the creation of #HLN with both feet. I was shockingly uncreative on the trip, which is very rare for me. These trips are always meant for research, but there wasn’t a lot of downtime to simply sit and think. I took a lot of pictures and videos so I will revisit many spots in my mind to pull things together for the next couple of books, as I visited a few areas I’d not been to before. But the point of the trip was to get my dad together with his uncle, and visit with my cousins, and that was accomplished with verve. We had a lot of fun with the family, and I’m so grateful we were all able to make this trip. The highlights are on my Instagram.
I didn’t read much, as I found out the hard way reading horror when staying alone in a very old Italian villa is not conducive to pleasant dreams (thanks, Finley), but I watched a lot of movies. A sampling…
Skyfall
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Pride & Prejudice (the Kiera Knightly version)
Emma (the Anna Taylor-Joy version)
Clueless
Legally Blond
Ford vs Ferrari
Barbie
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
And I listened to a bit of Case 63, which I will now be returning to, because I loved the premise—the dialogue grabbed me immediately.
I also signed up for Slow Read of the Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall books. I’ve always wanted to read them, and I love the idea of doing it with a group. He’s also doing War and Peace, but there’s only so much time in this life.
That’s it from me this week. How about you? What’s on your reading plate this weekend?
PS: A new craft post on writing the dreaded synopsis went out for paid subscribers last Sunday…. Check it out here.
November 26, 2023
Step Two: The Synopsis/Proposal
So if you took my challenge from the last post, you have a concept now. Congratulations! And with luck, you also have a working title. Excellent work! I am proud of you! I’m proud of you regardless of whether you’re creating something new as we go or not… just in case no one’s told you that recently. Whether you’re here to learn the craft or simply cogitate on an idea you’ve been noodling, you’ve taken the first step. My yoga teacher always tells me that getting on my mat is 99 percent of the yoga practice. Consider this your virtual Craft mat. Welcome. Take a nice, deep breath, and blow it out. Here we go.
How does the concept you’ve created take the next step to becoming a synopsis, something you can share with your team or build into an actual proposal? Let me explain how I did this, using HLN as an example.
November 24, 2023
Friday Reads 11.24.23
It’s Friday, friends, and you know what that means… let’s talk about what we’re reading!
I hope you’ve had a good week, and all my American friends had a delightful Thanksgiving! Mine was slightly different this year, as I celebrated with a different branch of the family, in the country of my roots instead of birth. It was a wonderful day with my cousins and aunt and uncle and my parents and brother, visiting our favorite vineyard and having a typical Italian meal with many dishes including lentils for good luck, a special local salami warmed and drizzled with olive oil, salami and prosciutto and speck with many cheeses, pepperonis, (which here are actually roasted peppers, not the small round salamis for pizza we know from home) breads and dried fruits and peanuts in the shell (!), plus several bottles of wine (I sadly still can’t partake properly but had a taste or two just for instructive purposes.) I have found as always the Italians do gluten free with no issue, and I have a new favorite special treat, gf biscotti. Molto buono.
My Italian is very rusty, but it’s been sufficient to get us around. Most Italians speak at least a little English, plus they do nice things like drop all the formative words in a sentence and use their bodies and hands and circumstances to indicate what they mean. So you don’t need to know complete grammatically proper sentences. You can break it down into the basics, say a simple word and point, and they get it. So long as you say Grazie all the time, and you fit right in.
All this to say, between brushing up on the language, the jet lag, the visiting, and the Iron Flame hangover, I haven’t done much reading. But I did bump into Heather Gudenkauf’s latest THE OVERNIGHT GUEST in the grocery store here, which was fun, and I’m reading a terrifying but beautiful horror novel by my friend and cohost Jeremy Finley, which is giving me nightmares but I can’t help but want to see what happens. It’s not out yet but when it is my Stephen King fans will LOVE it. Tori Eldridge has a new Lily Wong adventure, THE NINJA’S OATH, and my old friend Michael Sherer has a new Tess Barrett thriller, BLIND TRUST.
That’s it from me this week. How about you? What’s on your reading plate this weekend?
PS: A new craft post is coming for paid subscribers on Sunday…. Check it out here: https://open.substack.com/pub/jtellis...
November 17, 2023
Friday Reads 11.16.23
It’s Friday, friends, and you know what that means… let’s talk about what we’re reading!
I finished up IRON FLAME on the plane last night, and it was just as mind-bendingly awesome as the internet rumors claim. Just incredible work on Yarros’s part to leave us on a cliffhanger that is jawdroppingly shocking yet inevitable. That’s the best sort of ending for a book, and what we all strive for. I am mad for these books, as you know, and can’t wait for book three.
Now it’s on to some more thrillers, as I’ve cleared the decks of everything except books I’m reading for my own enjoyment, something I’m seriously considering setting as a rule for 2024. I have BLOOD SISTERS by Vanessa Lillie waiting on the library ladder, as well as Ashley Winstead’s MIDNIGHT IS THE DARKEST HOUR. I’ve heard both are amazing.
Also, I bought some awesome books this past week at Poisoned Pen, including Steve Urszenyi’s debut, PERFECT SHOT. I’ll share the rest of my stack when it arrives, as it was too large to bring home in my carry-on.
Why was I shopping at a bookstore in Scottsdale? Because I went to see the fabulous Barabara Peters interview the equally fabulous Tess Gerritsen about her incredible new book THE SPY COAST (highly recommended), and even popped up on stage myself to discuss my own CIA series. Have a watch here. We had a lot of fun, and a delightful afterparty at Virtù. The branzino is to die for, darling.
Step One in the 22 Steps series went up, too!
All that said, I am a wee bit tired. This was trip number 20 of the year. Between my work and my husband’s, we have to travel quite a lot, but this year was exceptional. Two more trips and 2023 will be in the books. And 2024 is going to be quieter. It has to be. Copydits on A VERY BAD THING are coming, and with #HLN and Jayne #5 underway, it’s time for some hibernation.
That’s it from me this week. How about you? What’s on your reading plate this weekend?
November 12, 2023
Step One: The Concept and Title
On August 26, 2022, I had a dream.
I wrote a long note in my journal detailing the strange, vivid dream I’d had the night before, though I needn’t have—it was so real that I could summon every bit of it just by shutting my eyes. (I still can. Epic dream.)
November 10, 2023
Friday Reads 11.10.23
It’s Friday, friends, and you know what that means… let’s talk about what we’re reading!
Friday snuck up on me this week. I just realized it’s Friday, and I forgot to put together my Reads post last night. We had a small tragedy in our neighborhood, and we were focused on trying to help. And then I couldn’t sleep, replaying it again and again, so I’m a bit sluggish today.
But, I have been reading, and loving, Rebecca Yarrow’s second book in the Empyreum series, IRON FLAME. My copy didn’t arrive until early evening Tuesday, and though I’d planned to take a couple of days off to read, I started it and realized I didn’t want it to end, so I’ve been going a little slower than planned. It is so stinking good. I love this series and love thinking about the broader social and cultural implications I’ve read into the text. We do tend to rewrite our histories, don’t we?
I enjoyed the NYT profile on Rebecca, too. It was lovely to see a popular fantasy author treated so well.
I’ve also spent much of the week compiling/reading research for the new book, and I’m starting in again on John Truby’s THE ANATOMY OF GENRE to help me build out the outline for the new book. It is a slightly daunting tome, but a quick pass-through helped me land the plane on my last book, so I’m going at it from a different mental space this time. And speaking of writing the new book…
I have started a brand new craft series, 22 Steps, which will follow my journey as I write my new novel.
Why 22 Steps, you ask? When I started thinking about the lifecycle of a book, I wrote down all the steps it takes and realized that for me, a story moves through 22 distinct phases from concept to publication. I will document them all, and hopefully, you can follow along with your latest work in progress. It will be my Book Journal come to life. I’ll also talk about the Jayne series because building books is building books, regardless of genre. Since these are craft-specific posts, I will keep them behind the paywall. If you’re interested, consider joining up. I will say I am so thrilled by the response thus far, and I appreciate every one of you who has subscribed to this newsletter. You’re awesome! I promise I’ll only link to the posts from here on out, but since this is just getting started, forgive me for the marketing push.
That’s it from me this week. How about you? What’s on your reading plate this weekend?
November 5, 2023
Introducing...Book #32, From Start To Finish
As promised, here we are with the first in a series of Craft posts. Normally, I keep these notes in a Book Journal that lives inside my Scrivener document, but for fun, I thought I’d share this process with you, live and unfiltered, as I write my latest standalone novel. I anticipate this to be a months-long project, exclusively for you lovely folks who’ve subscribed in order to see how the sausage is made. Since creativity doesn’t keep office hours, I’m not going to kid any of you into thinking this will be a perfectly linear series, nor a timely one. Too much pressure on us both, I think.
But as I’m cooking along with the book, without giving away actual details of the work, I will update you where I stand in the process, just as I update myself. For some reason, keeping track of where I am, what my word count is, what huge shifts I’ve made in the story, soothes me. So that’s what you’ll be seeing. There is a mountain to climb, and it’s going to be a challenge.
November 4, 2023
Wolves on Sale - Final Days!
THE WOLVES COME AT NIGHT, the new Taylor Jackson novel, is on sale for only .99 — but the sale is nearly over. Don’t miss it!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Only a few more days…
