Lynne Stringer's Blog, page 24

Jumping through Hoops

The modern writer has plenty of hoops to jump through if they want their novel to be successful. Writing it is the easy part. After that there’s editing, both by yourself and by someone else (preferably a professional editor). Then, once your book has been accepted for publication, there’s all the preparations, rewrites, adjustments, etc.

Then there’s promotions. Even if your book is being published traditionally (i.e. by a publisher who pays the costs upfront and pays you royalties on sales) it’s a good idea to be actively promoting. These days, that includes activity on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and writing blogs (like this one!), doing you best to get your name out there by visiting schools, book clubs and writing groups, bookstores … and just about anything you can think of!

It can be exhausting, especially for someone like me who likes the writing part, but not particularly the self promotion. But is there another way to do it? Not really. It’s something you have to do if you want people to find out about your book. If anyone knows of a different way to go about it, please let me know. I’d love to hear it!

If you’re lucky enough to get famous, then you probably won’t need to bother with all that stuff anymore, because your books will sell without all that. The recent discovery of a book by JK Rowling is a classic example. She wrote a book under the pseudonym Roger Galbraith. It sold about 1500 copies (which is good for an unknown). Then someone let slip that Roger Galbraith was JK Rowling in disguise and the book sold 500,000 copies practically overnight.

This kind of story is frustrating for someone like me, who struggles at the bottom of the pond jumping through all the hoops to try and attract a bit of attention. The urge to give up can be overwhelming some days, but I have to write. I can’t not do it. And if I’ve written something and I think it’s good, maybe someone else will like it too. So I’ll keep trying to get my stuff out there, come hell or high water!

 

Why is it easier to ‘tell’ rather than ‘show’?

I don’t know if other writers struggle with this, but sometimes I struggle to write in the ‘showing’ style, rather than the ‘telling’ style.

For those of you who don’t know, this is ‘telling’:

John and Mary were married in a beautiful ceremony. Gary was John’s best man for the day, and everyone thought Mary looked beautiful.

This is showing:

As John stood at the end of the aisle, he saw a vision of radiance beginning to move towards him. It was Mary. He had never seen her look so amazing. Gary, his best man, gave him a nudge, but he couldn’t tear his eyes off Mary to look at anyone else. Out of the corner of his eye he could see their family and friends snapping photographs and smiling with delight at the sight of her, but her eyes never left his until their hands connected.

Can you see the difference? The second paragraph is easier to read and sounds better. It certainly works well with novels. Even biographies and memoirs tend to opt for this style and I think it makes them easier to read. ‘Showing’ helps transport the reader into a story in a way ‘telling’ does not.

Why can it be so difficult to do? Sometimes I do still think it’s okay, especially if I need to explain something quickly but don’t want to bog down the main story with a huge scene devoted to it, but it should definitely be kept to a minimum, and it seems some days my head just doesn’t want to cooperate.

Maybe I should get a new brain!

I hate the word ‘very’ very much!

It may be a hangover from my journalism days, but I’m no fan of the word ‘very’.

No, I don’t think it is a hangover from that. I know other editors who frown on words like ‘very’ as well. While some might have a bugbear about words that end in ‘ly’, ‘very’ is my pet peeve.

Admittedly, I still use it sometimes, especially when writing dialogue, because a lot of people use it when they’re talking. However, when I did journalism I was told that if I needed to use the word ‘very’ then the word after it was the wrong choice. It wasn’t strong enough.

I don’t know if Mark Twain did say it, but this is attributed to him, ‘Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.’ I couldn’t agree more. Of course, these days ‘damn’ isn’t going to be edited out, but he’s right about ‘very’ on most occasions. ‘Very’ is one of those words that isn’t usually necessary. It’s right up there with ‘quite’, ‘just’ and ‘really’.

I mean, do we really need them? They’re just not necessary. If you’re using those words in your writing, especially very often, it can be quite annoying, and it usually changes the sentence in only very small ways, or not quite enough. Take those words out of the previous sentence and it will still make sense. Most times, they don’t need to be there.

Talking Writing with Writers

Yesterday I spoke to a writers’ group.

It was great fun. There were about eight of them, and we sat around chatting for a couple of hours. Well, if I’m honest, I did most of the talking, but that’s why they asked me to go.

I talked about how to get a book published. Because I work for a publisher and am a professional editor, I do have a bit of experience in the kind of things that see new writers knocked back. This group seemed to know a lot about that sort of thing already, but they still had some great questions and enquiries about what they should do and what they shouldn’t do. They also bought six copies of my book, so that’s got to be a good thing!

It was a wonderful experience. We went to lunch afterwards, but I was conscious of the time, so I didn’t get to stay as long as I would have liked. I wanted to hear more about their stories. Perhaps I will still have the chance.

That’s the great thing about meeting other writers. We all have something in common, even across different genres. We all have a desire to put words on a page. Not just any words, but words that others want to read. Not always the easiest thing to do, but satisfying when you get a good response.

To outline or not to outline

Do authors need to write an outline when they are about to write a novel? I’d be interested to know whether or not my author friends do this. As far as my own writing goes, I have never bothered to do an outline, not even when I was at school. I always considered them a boring waste of time. Why write an outline when you can write the story itself? I deliberately steered clear of them, even in exams. I never understood why the teachers pushed the idea of an outline so much. Maybe they needed something that showed there was direction to the story in case the student didn’t get enough time to finish it.

I still don’t like outlines too much, but I recognise that some people find them incredibly helpful. I guess it’s just another of those areas where people tend to differ. For some authors it probably helps to plot things out on paper (or computer!). I find I do all the plotting either in my head or when my first draft is in front of me, as sometimes I don’t know where my story’s going to go until the characters start speaking, and that would make an outline a bit too long, I think! So, if you’re starting out as a writer, perhaps trying an outline is a good idea to see if it works for you, but don’t force it if it doesn’t. We all have different ways of doing things.

 

 

Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

I agree with this. Some writers put in a lot of scientific terms or words from other languages, but I find that it becomes annoying pretty quickly, especially if you need to look it up every time to work out what the author’s talking about. Most people don’t enjoy doing that anyway. Are they going to put down their book (or, to think in modern terms, open a browser on their tablet) when they’re in the middle of reading a story? Maybe if it’s a non-fiction book they might be more prepared to do that, but if I’m in the middle of an exciting story, as a reader, the last thing I want to do is look up a word to find out what it means. I think the KISS principle applies here too. Keep it Simple Sweetie. Don’t complicate things, especially if you’re only doing it so you’ll sound clever.

My first book signing

Last Thursday I went to my first ever book signing as an author.

The bookstore where I was scheduled to do the signing was a good 50 minutes’ drive from my home and in an area I wasn’t too familiar with, but with the help of a friendly policeman, I was soon seated in A Lot of Books, a small bookstore in the Ipswich City Mall.

They had set up a table and chair for me in the only available space – the doorway! While this certainly had its plus side – everyone who walked in the door couldn’t help but see me – it also had its down side – everyone walking past saw me too!

Engaging in conversation with people we don’t know is tricky for most introverts. I am no exception. I had taken a basket of chocolates to tempt people to talk to me. I’ve often found that chocolate is a great way to get people to like you. It worked in this case. Two minutes after I sat down, a lady exiting the store stopped to have a chocolate and then went back into the store to purchase my book! That was a pretty good start.

Most people were happy to have a bit of a chat. Some people went out of their way to avoid making eye contact with me, though. Were they just shy? Maybe. Or maybe I reeked too much of salesperson. It was clear I was there to sell them something and they weren’t always keen to find out what it was. In spite of this, I only had one truly negative experience. A man who was passing was offered a chocolate. Noticing a ring on his left ring finger, I assumed he was married, and asked him if he’d like to buy a copy for his wife. ‘Oh, I got rid of her,’ he said. ‘And the kids. Divorced them all as soon as I could. They’re all trouble.’ He proceeded to tell me how all young people are a waste of space and are getting worse. Feeling a bit ticked off, I pointed out that a Greek poet said the same thing in 800 BC, but he then told me that kids in Perth and Adelaide knew how to respect their elders. I think he had a chronic case of ‘the grass is always greener’.

Fortunately, that man was the only bad experience, and I sold six copies in three hours. And it was interesting sitting there watching people go past. As Anne Shirley would have said, there was a lot of ‘scope for imagination’ in watching those people. Maybe some of them might end up in my next novel. Maybe the grumpy man will too. Characters like him are interesting to write, just not so much fun to experience when they’re in front of you!

If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

Why is this so easy to do when I’m editing but not when I’m writing in the first place? In fact, it can even be difficult to find problem words when editing my own work. It’s amazing how many times I can go through my own novel and still, after read-through 624, I say to myself, ‘Ew! Why did I put it that way?’ or ‘Why did I use that word? That’s dumb!’.

I guess that’s why having your book edited by someone else is so important, although they can miss stuff too. An edit of book two in my trilogy was recently returned to me, and after I’d fixed up all the things she pointed out I still found other things that neither of us discovered previously! For me, the hardest thing about seeing my book in print is knowing that I can’t change it now. It’s too late – it’s on the page and out there for all to see. But I think that shows just how important continuous editing is.

Reflections on the book launch

The book launch for my debut novel, The Heir, was held on Saturday. I had two launches, really: one in person and one on my Facebook author page.

I knew if I tried to post on Facebook at the same time I was trying to prepare for the physical book launch I’d probably blow a gasket, so I scheduled most of my posts ahead of time. It was exciting actually, to reflect on all the things that had led up to this point. I went right back to when I first wrote The Heir and my friends who had read it encouraged me to try and get it published. Having an online launch was a great way to get them involved, actually, as none of those friends are local, so they couldn’t come to the evening launch.

My family and I spent a lot of the day preparing for the launch, getting food ready, setting up the hall, you know, all those things you have to do when you’re having a celebration. Rochelle Manners and Sally Ford, both from Wombat Books, were there to support me and to sell my book and other books to the people who attended.

By the time the night started I was feeling a little stressed, but not as bad as I thought I’d be. After all, this was it! We were launching my book to the public, at last. No more preparations, no more saying, ‘someday’. This was it.

My friends came out to support me and I sold quite a few copies. They were all enthusiastic and many took home The Heir t-shirts to help me promote it that way. I was humbled by their enthusiasm.

On the way home, I commented to my husband on how much the evening had reminded me of a wedding day. I was so busy and so focused all day that I didn’t have much time to enjoy myself or to realise the enormity of what was happening. It’s a shame when that happens, isn’t it? Something we have been looking forward to for a long time can be swamped by all the preparations.

Having said that, I will do it again for the next book. I just hope I can stop a little more at that one, and soak in the realisation that I am now a published author.

If you can be misread, you will be

Oh, how true this is! People love to read into what we write. They delight in finding the things that we didn’t mean to put in there, but that can be seen through someone else’s filter. And boy, can trouble result!

Is it possible to avoid this? I guess extensive proof reading and editing will help, especially when multiple people are involved, as that will make sure it goes through the filters of several different minds as they apply their own perspective to what you wrote. But you’re never going to cover everybody.

Can anything be done once you have been misread? You can try and correct it, but the level of both your popularity (or notoriety) and the level of your mistake will dictate whether or not anyone will ever forget what was misread, no matter how many times you try and tell them what you really meant. So I think misreading is inevitable. It’s simply a question of being able to deal with the fallout.

I think learning not to take things too much to heart helps as well, but for creative people like writers, this can be a tricky thing. I’ve yet to learn how to do it properly. And since some misunderstandings can damage reputations (which is far worse than simply causing embarrassment) it is definitely a serious business. However, there’s only so much that can be done to stop it. We need to be as careful as possible, but we also need to remember who we are and what we meant and try not to get too upset if others misconstrue us or our writing.