Jennifer Niven's Blog, page 554

Velva Jean Goes Online

Velva Jean Hart, heroine of my novels Velva Jean Learns to Drive, Velva Jean Learns to Fly, and the upcoming Becoming Clementine (due out September 25), has taught herself to drive and fly, she’s flown as a member of the WASP in World War II, spied for the OSS, and fought with the French Resistance. Now comes her latest adventure: tackling the world of social media.

You can read and follow her style diary, “Lipsticks, Looks & Lifestyles,” on tumblr.

Follow her on twitter for pictures, thoughts, info, videos, book updates, etc.

And like her facebook fan page, where she’s posting everything from family photos to family recipes, songs and maps, as well as info on the women who spy, fly, and drive, WASP and spy-related events, and 1940s beauty tips.

The Advance Reading Copy

One of the strangest times in a writer’s life is when the ARCs go out into the world to seek early praise and attention. The “ARC” is book world shorthand for “Advance Reading Copy,” which translates to: an unedited, unfinished version of a book. Which translates to: one of my worst nightmares.

A little background: The ARC is sent out to reviewers, bloggers, magazines, newspapers, and libraries months before the book is officially released. The ARC can be sent out in the hundreds or the thousands. (The thousands!)

If the ARC does its job, it will inspire early reviews, blurbs for the back cover, advance orders, advance press, and a general sense of “buzz.” Inevitably, ARC copies will find their way to eBay so that the ARC collectors of the world (and there are many) can add to their collection.

Now, whatever your job or career, I want you to imagine just for a minute sending hundreds or thousands (thousands!) of copies of a very important project out before it is done. And not just any old very important project, but a project you have poured everything into for months and months and months and that is still in progress. You know what it will be and you know what you have to do to get it there, but before you can get it there, as you are still working, it is sent out for others to judge. This is your project’s first impression.

For all my complaining, it is truly thrilling when someone likes your book, based on this rough, unfinished version. (Because you know the book is only going to get better.) Especially when you have written a historical novel about a girl who spies and have tried to be as authentic as you can when building the world she spies in.

For instance, here are two blurbs for Becoming Clementine from a former spy and the founding curator of the CIA Museum (“the preeminent national archive for the collection, preservation, documentation and exhibition of intelligence artifacts, culture, and history.”). It’s like having your painting of Van Gogh endorsed by the artist himself as well as by the founding curator of the Louvre.

“Jennifer Niven has done it again! In Niven’s third adventure featuring this courageous female pilot, Velva Jean persuades the military to use her in flying intelligence agents to France, where she crash lands and is rescued by the Resistance. Her arrest by the Gestapo and her heroic triumph over the horrors of war (as well as her moving romance with a French agent) makes Becoming Clementine a riveting, ‘can’t put it down,’ must read.”

—Dr. Margaret S. Emanuelson, Veteran of OSS and author of Company of Spies

“A proud descendant of Revolutionary War espionage heroine Jane Black Thomas, author Jennifer Niven comes by her appetite and aptitude for spy fiction instinctively and naturally. In Velva Jean’s latest adventure, cloak-and-dagger buffs will recognize and appreciate Niven’s artful and knowing introduction of tradecraft—techniques used to carry out covert operations. Hiding local currency in shoulder pads. Miniature compasses designed to look like dress buttons. Lethal knives built into shoe and boot heels. All are actual examples of tradecraft utilized by covert agents staging missions behind the lines during World War II. As a collector of `spy gadgets,’ and as a fan and student of real-life female agents, I found Niven’s authentic application of tradecraft a hidden gift in the espionage thriller that is Becoming Clementine. Read it for the intriguing tale and the intriguing tradecraft.”

—Linda McCarthy, founding curator of the CIA Museum

That early praise is very affirming. Which makes me dislike the ARC process just a little bit less.

On Tact: The Importance of Magnolia Sh*#

"Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy." — Isaac Newton I am a southern girl at heart. I was raised by southerners– a southern mother, a southern daddy, southern grandparents, a giant, closeknit southern family. As I've made my way out into the world, personally and professionally, I've taken all [...]

Let the writing begin…

I haven't blogged for a week because, unfortunately, when something's gotta give in my schedule, the blog is the first to go. I figure when it comes down to writing for my website or writing for Penguin, I will always choose the latter. Last week was a mad scramble to get through some important research [...]

Becoming Clementine — the book trailer

One of the latest phenomenons in the writing world is the book trailer. These trailers are meant to do what movie previews do– alert an audience to an upcoming project and inspire them to see (or, in this case, read) it. Five books into my career, I'd never had a trailer for any of my [...]

When Nonfiction is Fiction

As I'm researching Velva Jean's Hollywood story, I am reading through book after book written by or about movie stars and movie moguls from the 1940s. I'm reading about the studio system, the star machine, the inner workings of the movie musical, every bit of Hollywood and Los Angeles history, and the studios themselves. In [...]

The Importance of Writing Twaddle

Katherine Mansfield once said, "Looking back, I was always writing. Twaddle it was, too. But far better to write twaddle or anything, anything, than nothing at all." I have good friends who are good writers, but some of them are so terrified of writing anything bad or imperfect that they just don't write. Ever. One [...]

Telling a Book Goodbye

There's a very strange something that happens when you finish a book. Call it Writer's Postpartum, but it is a kind of mourning/grieving/losing-your-best-friend/wandering-about-the-house-without-a-purpose feeling. It's the feeling that something is missing, that something is not quite right, as if you've suddenly woken up to find yourself very far from home. When I'm done with a [...]

The Places a Book Can Take You

Right now I am so busy juggling two books, that my readers and friends worry about me. Their primary concern is that my work is too isolating and that it keeps me too burdened down at my desk. I am at my desk a lot, especially at this moment as I'm editing what's called the [...]

The Reading Chair

This week I'm working on the loose galleys of Becoming Clementine, which means reading the entire book at least once with a colored pencil by my side (I typically choose some shade of purple, but for this one I've decided to use green). Even though this stage isn't as grueling or intense as the editing/copy [...]