Holiday Greetings and Other Thoughts

Forgive me if this blog is not about writing. For the first time in many years, all my kids and grandchildren will be together this Christmas at my house. In addition, I am reviewing a great contract offer to publish my book, Maker of Angels. What a wonderful holiday for me and my family.

Despite my good fortune, I can't help but think of the pain suffered by some families this year. What must Christmas be like for those who lost a loved one in the Connecticut school shooting, or the family of my old friend, Alvin Pugh . . . he dropped dead of a massive coronary a few days ago. Two young boys in my town, brothers walking their bikes down the side of the road, were killed by a drunk driver a couple months ago. Even families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year, how do they find peace and happiness this Christmas?

I don't have answers. Wish I did. All I can do is to take a few minutes out of my own happiness, to think about those who are suffering and respect their loss by memorializing the lives of their loved ones. So while I am having the most wonderful holiday season ever, I am trying to think good thoughts for those who have been less fortunate in hope that Karma really exists.

Merry Christmas or Joyous Holidays to everyone.

Dealing with Disaster

I thought my current manuscript, Maker of Angels, was done when I recently submitted it to two publishers for consideration. I was WRONG!

Not wrong about it being submitted, sure enough, I got it into the hands of decision-makers. What was wrong is that the manuscript is not DONE. After countless edits by me and reviews by six beta readers (including two professionals, two writers, one cowboy and an up-and-coming copy editor), I found a glaring spelling error that none of us caught.

Disaster!

"How could something like this happen?" I thought. "More importantly, what am I going to do about it?"

What's my terrible mistake? I wrote a western romance and failed to spell "corral" correctly. Can you believe such a stupid mistake? Corral, a common western word and I messed it up. Yikes! That word showed up nine times in the whole document, and I spelled it "c o r a l" . . . EVERY STINKING TIME.

I feel like a fool. I even recall questioning that spelling while I was writing and made a mental note to check on it in the first edit. Then, I forgot, not once, but through half a dozen edits.

 

Should I keep silent? Should I hope it slips past the acquisition editor like it did everyone else? After all, it has already passed more than a dozen eyes without notice?

Honesty is the best policy, or at least, I hope so. Here's what I did. I sent out the corrected manuscript along with a brief note of apology to the editors involved. I'm owning my mistake. Will my faux pas kill my chances for a contract? I hope not, but we'll see. I'll let you know when decisions are made.

I need a Snickers. They make everything better!

Page Turners...Structure, a Secret to Pace

Page turners, those books that readers love, come from balance between four elements:

1. Great plot,
2. Compelling characters,
3. Strong story-telling, and,
4. Writing structure/pace.

This blog discusses number 4, "Writing structure and how it enhances pace."

Consider the following excerpt.

     Footprints showed in the morning dew on my lawn, one set leading to my daughter's window and another back to the sidewalk. She had not been imagining that face several times recently. "I'm sorry, Emma. You're right." I felt terrible for doubting her, much less for telling her so.
     "It's okay, daddy." She took my hand and gave it a forgiving squeeze. Her head tipped to one side coming gently to rest against my arm. What a wonderful child, I thought.
     I called the police and took numerous pictures of the footprints from a distance to preserve evidence in case cops arrived after the dew evaporated.
     Police still had not shown up an hour later, and rising sun made short work of the moisture on the grass. "Honey," I called to my nervous wife on the porch, "call the cops again, and find out how much longer until they get here." She went into the house with an exasperated huff. I was sure they were about to get an earful.
     Police arrived just as she returned, and I quickly explained my concern about the stalker with an obsession toward my daughter. "Officer, kids in the neighborhood call him 'Wacky Willie' because he talks to himself all day long down in the park by the school."

That scene mixes dialog and narrative in larger paragraphs. I see writing like this all the time, occasionally even in New York Times Bestselling novels. Can a writer build strong characterization and tension in this way? Sure, but I believe it could be much better if the dialog and narrative are featured separately.

Narrative is best for building scenes while dialog drives plot and enhances tension. When dialog is buried inside paragraphs that are primarily narrative, it loses some of its impact on readers. It also creates longer paragraphs leaving less "white space" on each page. Empty space helps readers to turn more pages per hour giving an impression of a fast-moving story.

Here is the same excerpt from above restructured to add white space and to isolate dialog for greater impact.

     Footprints showed in the morning dew on my lawn, one set leading to my daughter's window and another back to the sidewalk.
     "I'm sorry, Emma. You're right."
     She had not been imagining that face several times recently. I felt terrible for doubting her, much less for telling her so.
     "It's okay, daddy," Emma said as she took my hand and gave it a forgiving squeeze.
     Her head tipped to one side coming to rest against my arm.
     What a wonderful child, I thought.
     I called the police and took numerous pictures of the footprints from a distance to preserve evidence in case the cops arrived after the dew evaporated. Police still had not shown up an hour later, and rising sun made short work of the moisture on the grass.
     "Honey," I called to my nervous wife on the porch, "call the cops again, and find out how much longer until they get here."
     She went into the house with an exasperated huff. I was sure they were about to get an earful. Police arrived just as she returned.
     "Officer, kids in the neighborhood call him 'Wacky Willie.' He talks to himself all day long down in the park by the school."
     I quickly explained my concern about the stalker with an obsession toward my daughter.

The reconstructed excerpt reads as a fast-paced story. Page after page of easy reading like this makes the reader feel as if the story is a "page turner." Assuming that plot tension, character development and story-telling are good, this last structural adjustment can turn a great story into a word-of-mouth best-seller.

What do you think about separating narrative and dialog?

Rising Tide Theory – Edit or Sink!



President John Kennedy coined the expression, “A rising tide lifts all boats.”  He meant that improvements in the economy lifted all citizens, but his concept has wide application. What does this mean to writers?



Rising tide will float all boats

Less than a decade ago, there were no
e-readers, no e-books and no widespread self-publishing. Aspiring authors suffered little possibility of ever seeing their ramblings in published form unless they paid far too much to a vanity press for a garage full of books that would never sell. For most, the dream truly was little more than a fantasy.

Along came internet publishing. E-book readers quickly followed, along with dire projections of the end of traditional publishing. “Bookstores will go bankrupt.” “Mainstream publishers will die on the vine.” “Big name authors will suddenly discover stiff competition for a rapidly dwindling share of the reader market.”

Any town crier in medieval times would be proud of the loud proclamations of doom and gloom.

What really happened?

Some predictions did come to pass. One large bookstore chain, Borders, closed their doors, but it had little to do with growth in self-publishing. They were managed by stupid people who made bad business decisions. "Used book” stores have seen sales dwindle with the advance of e-readers. Many, including my favorite, have closed their doors. New “authors” did indeed explode onto the literary scene in such numbers that most vanished into a cacophony of unknown talking heads. A tiny few soared to great heights on the backs of fiction that went “viral.”

Big publishing houses seemed to ignore the growing changes. They stood in the muddy swamp of traditional literature like dinosaurs casually chewing on literary leaves while staring in mindless wonder at the glowing spot in the sky above, an approaching ten-mile-wide meteor. I suspect they thought all this self-publishing was hoopla, a passing bubble in time that would burst, leaving behind a sticky residue of dwindled hopes and failed dreams. Boy, were they wrong!

Ironically, traditional publishers might just be the big winners in all this literature evolution. “How is that?” you ask.

 

Will YOUR boat float when the tide hits?

Self-publishing created a vast pool of substandard writing foisted off on the public by catchy graphics and low prices. Took a little while, but readers finally caught on. Even “free” books are not getting the downloads that they once did. Price used to be a major factor in book sales. No longer. Consumers figured out the REAL price of an e-book . . . their own time. Bad writing, poor editing and over-hyped, under-delivered e-books have left them cautious about wasting precious free time on crap. For a dollar or two more, a properly edited, well-written e-book from a publisher with strong writing standards can immerse a reader in a wonderful world of suspended reality.



This is where traditional publishers come back into the picture. Historically, competition among authors, and strict editorial standards, resulted in quality books. Readers could always trust what they were getting. As the newness of the e-book craze matures, demand for superior writing is returning, yes, even for $2 e-books. Prices for electronic downloads dropped so low that the only major decision for a reader now is how to spend their limited pleasure-reading time.

Big-(number of the month) publishers are now aggressively positioning to enter POD and self-publishing markets. Their reasonably priced, strongly edited offerings will capture a large share of the consuming public in the near future. Authors who avail themselves of services by such mainstream companies and smaller publishers that also maintain high expectations will produce the higher standard of books that readers crave. The future belongs to quality . . . sales will follow.

Promotions, professional graphics, direct sales from reputable publishers (eliminating the cost of distribution through Amazon or B&N) are necessary, but, most importantly, writers/authors who are smart enough to invest in high quality editing will thrive. All others will find water spilling into their metaphorical boats as the tide rises.

 

Leaky boats don't float!

 

There you have it. Great writing and quality editing is more important than ever. That rising tide WILL, indeed, lift all boats, but only those that are seaworthy. My advice to my fellow writers is simple. Get professional editing . . . the tide's coming, so make sure your boat doesn’t leak!