Research by Sandra Schwab

I am finally back and mostly recovered from RT (though I seem to be sick today). Apologies for the lapse in blogs--RT usually takes the stuffing out of me! Fun but draining.

Today, I have invited a fairly new author, Sandra Schwab, to talk about research. Her book, Castle of the Wolf, is a May release from Dorchester/Love Spell.



Sandra says: I’m one of the people who loves doing research: I love delving into the history of everyday life and digging up old gossip and scandal. However, research often proves to be a difficult hurdle for beginner-writers of historical romances.

What is the best way to research a specific era of history? How and where do I find relevant material? And how do I incorporate the research into my novel and keep the balance between historical detail and the story? So let’s have a look at this:

What is the best way to research a specific era of history?
Research should always move from the general to the specific. While most romances do not greatly touch upon political events, it is a good idea to read a general overview of the era you have chosen as a setting for your story. This enables you to gain a basic knowledge of that era, which will become the basis for all of your future research. Once you've got a general idea of the political history of the time, you'll need to find out what the everyday life of people was like. Things you should research include

• architecture and housing (what did the houses look like? what was the set-up of a castle / a Regency town house? how was an estate run?)
• fashion (things to wear for your heroine and hero!)
• food (what kind of food was available for normal people / for the nobility? how was it served? how was it eaten?)
• entertainments (what did people do in their leisure time? where there fairs or parks? what kind of games were played?), etc.

There are special overviews for writers available on different eras of history. These books contain articles on various subjects (food, fashion, shopping, etiquette, etc.) and bibliographies listing further relevant literature. Thus they can be used as starting points for your further research. E.g.

• The Writer's Guide series from Writer's Digest Books, ranging from Sherrilyn Kenyon's The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages: The British Isles from 500 to 1500 (1999) to Marc McCutcheon's The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life from Prohibition Through World War II (1995)
• Sharon H. Laudermilk and Teresa L. Hamlin. The Regency Companion. New York: Garland, 1989.

All in all, it is relatively easy to find books on various subjects, e.g.

• on architecture and housing: Christina Hardyment. Behind the Scenes: Domestic Arrangements in Historic Houses. London: National Trust, 1997.
• on fashion: C. Willett Cunnington. English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century. 1937. New York: Dover, 1990.
• on food: Jane Pettigrew. A Social History of Tea. London: National Trust, 2001.
• on entertainments: Catherine Perry Hargrave. A History of Playing Cards and a Bibliography of Cards and Gaming. 1930. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2000.

Try to go for books with many illustrations: these will help you to visualize settings and objects; e.g.

• books which are published by museums (e.g. the V&A in London) and which highlight specific parts of their collections. These books usually contain many photographs.
• children's books like the See Through History series or the Eyewitness Guides: they contain many, sometimes very detailed illustrations with easy explanations
• guidebooks on specific castles or stately houses (neat for creating your hero's manor house)

Another good way to get an impression what life at a specific time in history was like, is to look at primary sources, e.g. literature, letters, and memoirs, but also cookbooks, travel guides, etc. from that specific time. When I wrote Castle of the Wolf, I used a 19th-century guidebook to add details to my heroine’s journey down the Rhine, like the fact that from Rotterdam to Cologne there was nothing much to see but dykes on either side of the river.

How and where do I find relevant material?
Thanks to the internet, research has become very easy today: you can visit websites of various libraries and museums worldwide, you'll find collections of primary literature online (e.g. the Project Gutenberg), you can order books online (I absolutely adore abebooks -- it’s wonderful for finding old books!), and you'll also find an enormous amount of pictures and photographs online. So don't be afraid of the research! It's easier than it was ever before.

How do I incorporate the research into my novel?
In fiction writing you always have to find the balance between pure background description and the story / your characters. Historical background is just one facet of this. Some suggestions how to handle historical background:

• When you build scenes, use illustrations and photographs to help you visualize the setting.
• Include historical background in an unobstrusive way, i.e. don't throw your readers out of the story by giving endless, most detailed descriptions. Instead, make it part of the story: in The Lily Brand, Chinese decorations add to the apprehensive atmosphere of the reunion scene and foreshadow the hero's animosity: "Lillian's gaze was caught by the black dragons that curled threateningly across the bright red wallpaper and chased each other on the Chinese lanterns on the lacquered side tables. The feet of these were formed like the paws of a lion, with sharp golden claws that might tear through a man's flesh and bone." => escalation when hero enters the room: "Black dragons curled on the walls on each side of him as he strode toward them, tall and broud-shouldered, as graceful as a big cat."
• Try to keep explanations short.
• Never let a character give an explanation that is obviously only included for the reader's sake.
• Credit your readers with some intelligence: some things don't need to be explicitly explained, sometimes the context is enough, e.g. the betting book at White's is a) pretty much self-explanatory, imo, and b) by now most readers of Regency romances would know that there was a betting book at White's

And now ... Happy history hunting!

****

Thank you Sandy! This is terrific information. I just finished writing a book revolving around Elizabeth I, and I was up to my ears in books, maps, pictures, charts, and a ton of material from the Internet--and I already knew quite a bit about Tudor history!

Never be afraid of research, though, as she says. You will be amazed at how many ideas for characters, plots, and incidents you can find while leafing through historical material.

Read more about Sandy's intriguing and different historical romances at: http://www.sandraschwab.com

Da Money

I’m going to post today about something everyone wants to talk about--and no one wants to talk about.

How much can you really make writing these books anyway??

A few years ago when I was giving a talk, a young woman raised her hand and told me that one of her professors told her that she couldn’t make any money writing romance novels. I replied that writers like Nora Roberts, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and Christine Feehan would likely be surprised to hear that.

There is much negativity surrounding the $$ in publishing. It is true that not as many people read now as they did before. Print runs are no longer commonly in the millions. There are so many published romance authors that our share of the diminishing pot has diminished.

But guess what? There is still money out there. Some romance authors are getting high six-figure to seven-figure advances. Authors are getting 200-500K print runs per title. Not everyone, of course. The majority of romance authors get five-figure advances, anywhere from low to high.

So how much can you really make? Let’s look at some concrete numbers.

You can have your book hit USA Today top 150 with a print run of 100,000. So let’s say you signed with a publisher, their marketing dept. got excited about you because your book was so well written and so marketable, and they got the booksellers to order 95,000 total.

Your print run will likely be about 100K. (Print runs are based on how many books the booksellers decide to order, not how much your editor loves you.)

Your book sells for $6.99. I’ll round that up to $7.00 to make math easier. You signed a contract that said you get 8% royalty. So for each book sold at retail cover price, you get about 56 cents a book.

I’m going to round that down to 50 cents--because books sold through discount book clubs and the like are usually sold at both lower cover price and usually lower royalty rate (although you can negotiate this point in your contract). But let's say in this example your average is 50 cents a book.

The book releases, those first books sell quickly enough that bookstores reorder and you ship out your entire 100K run.

Good for you. But—on average, most mass market paperbacks have about a 50% sell-through. Meaning that for every book sold, one gets returned unsold. (Hopefully you’ll sell better than that, but let’s say 50% for sake of example).

50% of a 100K run = 50,000 books. On each book you earn an average of 50 cents. 50 cents times 50K books = $25,000. If your publisher gave you a $20,000 advance for this book, you’ve earned that out and are due a royalty check (for simplicity’s sake I won’t go in to the money they hold back for returns).

Now if you’re smokin’ hot and readers love your book, and you sell 80,000 of those 100K copies, then your total earning is $40,000 and your royalty check will be $20,000 (‘cause remember, you already got your $20K advance.)

You get sell through like this in six-months to a year. After that, unless you have a blockbuster, your sales will still trickle in, but nothing like what you did the first six months.

Of course, this is a very simplified example. It does not take into account secondary rights—foreign translations, movie options, TV options, audio books—any bonuses, and much, much more. It also does not take into account the reserves held against returns, usually 18% of your royalties in the first year. (We all hate reserves, but they happen.)

Please keep in mind this is for ONE book. You will not live your life on the proceeds for one book (unless it’s a huge blockbuster, and even then, people will get tired of it). You will write anywhere from one to four books a year (don’t be like me and write seven 100K word-ers—you need a life.)

That means that you’ll get your turn-in advance for book three about the same time you start getting royalties from book one. You’ll get turn-in for book four as you get royalties for book two and book one. Turn-in $$ for book five as you get royalties for books one, two, and three. Plus all those secondary things you can sell, plus what you get when you sign new contracts—it all adds up.

Trust me, royalty income is a good thing. What you have to learn is not to expect it to come to a schedule (and certainly not your schedule, LOL), and you should expect the amounts to wildly flux. A key to earning a living as a writer is good budgeting—a subject beyond the scope of my blog!

I was going to go on about the importance of marketability (so those booksellers will want to order 100,000 books), but I think that’s enough for now. Another day, another blog.

So you see what I’m getting at—you can make a living, but you have to work at it! I’m always amused by people who tell me they want to be a writer someday so they can stop working. Sorry! This is the hardest job I’ve ever done.

It’s also the most fun and most rewarding job I’ve ever had.

Be flexible, don’t get discouraged, keep writing, keep believing.

I’ll be at RT next week, so my blog will be on hold until the week after. Take care!

Jennifer
www.jennifersromances.com

A Romance Template?

AH asked a good question in the comments, and I'll answer it for this week's post:

"Jennifer, I have a question about writing Romance. Is there a general template? For example, I know there needs to be a Black Moment just before the end, but is there a general pattern to follow such as Chapter 1 "this happens", Chapter 2 "this happens" and so on? Thanks, AH"

Jennifer says: Let me preface my answer by saying that I write single-title romance, and not category/series (e.g., the line romances published by Harlequin/Silhouette). Series romance has it's own "rules," and while I don't think there's anything as hard and fast as "Chapter 1 has X," "Chapter 2 has Y," editors do like to see certain things fall in certain places. See HQ's guidelines or better still, read a gob of HQ/Sil books of a certain line to fine the rhythms and patterns.

Ok, back to single title. Single Title romance, btw, if you don't know the term, refers to most mass market paperback books on the shelves that are not line romances by HQ/Sil. I'm talking about the thick paperbacks with the glossy covers and raised, shiny letters, many by blockbuster bestsellers. Single Title publishers are Berkley, Bantam, NAL, Leisure, Kensington/Zebra, Avon, and so forth. (All right HQN, which is by Harlequin, are also single title romances, just to confuse you.)

And the answer is: No, there is no template, no rules about what's in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 etc. Anything goes!

Well, within reason. You do need to get in a couple things right up front in your romance. Those are:

Introduction of the hero, his goal, and what keeps him from it.
Introduction of the heroine, her goal, and what keeps her from it
Introduction of the villain (if you have one), his/her goal, and what keeps him/her from it

Once these characters are introduced, the main plot problem of the story will be (should be, anyway) in place, because the main plot arises from the goals/hindrances of the h/h and villain.

Whether you do Chapter 1--hero, Chapter 2--heroine, or two scenes in one chapter introducing them both, or hero, heroine, and villain all appearing on the first few pages doesn't really matter.

A Note: In single-title romance, your h/h do NOT have to meet on the first page. They should meet when the story naturally brings them together. The reader should meet them and anticipate these two meeting, but you don't have to shove them together in Chapter 1. (I personally like the h/h together as early and as often as possible, but I've read terrific books when they don't meet until page 75.)

The rest of the story: The remainder of your book follows from what your h/h are trying to or need to do and what's stopping them.

I'm obviously being very simplistic here, but I've learned one important lesson from writing nearly twenty-three books for publication: Keep it Simple!

New writers have the tendency to shove everything they possibly can into one 450 page manuscript, but resist the temptation. Put in only what is necessary, save your other brilliant ideas for your next book. Few of us any more are going to write one masterpiece and live off its royalties for the rest of our lives, so count on writing a lot if you truly want to be a writer.

To recap:

Begin your romance novel by introducing the readers to the hero, the heroine, and the villain (if you have a villain). By now the readers know the main problem your characters must overcome.

The middle of the story consists of incidents (not many, stick to three or four) that move your plot forward--things the h/h try to solve their problem(s) but which don't work, miring them in deeper.

The Black Moment, when your hero and heroine decide to risk everything even though they are certain they are in a no-win situation. (A classic example is the hero decides to let the heroine go, because he knows that as much as he needs her, he'll make her miserable if he keeps her with him. He risks his own happiness to ensure hers.)

The Reward: After the h/h risk everything, they are rewarded by gaining everything. (The heroine returns to the hero on her own, because she loves him enough to stay with him and bring happiness into his life.)

I confess I'm a "pantser," which means I don't draw out my plot in detail before I begin. I have an idea of my characters, and then I just start off and see what happens. I don't like to know how books turn out before I read them, and I don't like to know when I write them, either! :-)

So that was the long answer to "Is there a romance template?" The short answer is: "Not really."

Take care,
Jennifer
www.jennifersromances.com

The Fire Within

Penny asked a very good question on the last post. First let me offer apologies for being late on this blog. I had to do back-to-back out of town trips in March and of course caught a bad cold from it, plus had to finish revisions on two books, not to mention numerous other tasks. I'm slowly catching up to myself--I'm only a few days behind schedule now, very exciting!!

All that is relevant to my post here. Penny asked how you keep writing through times of personal stress and life-changing events. Some writers tell me it's easy to write when their lives are stressful, because writing is a therapeutic escape for them. For me, on the other hand, personal and family troubles tend to intrude on the creative process and make focusing difficult.

I write best when times are peaceful and even when I’m a little bit bored—my stories are sure to be more interesting than my own life!

But sometimes you need or want to write (in my case, I often have a tight schedule) when there are stressful or even traumatic happenings in your own life. What do you do?

That's when I look for what I call "The Fire." There is s place deep inside you that no one--not family, or friends, or spouse, or your mother--can ever touch. It is the essence of you. It's what gives you your strange, unusual, or meaningful dreams, what gives you inspriation. The Fire is what gets that book out of you, what makes that story yours and no one else's.

How do you find and touch that Fire? It's not easy (of course not!). What I do is sit down and write rather mindlessly. I don't try to be good. I do what I heard from another writer about ten years ago: Allow yourself to be bad.

Just put words down that get your characters from A to B. If nothing exciting is happening in one section of the story, skip to a section where it is interesting.

THE FIRST DRAFT OF YOUR STORY DOES NOT HAVE TO BE GOOD!

No one ever needs to see it. This is you telling the story of your heart, typing until 400 pages are filled. This story belongs to you and you alone, not to critiquers or editors or the rest of the world. No one can tell you it's wrong.

If you think it's crud, no matter, you have plenty of opportunity to fix it before you send it to an editor or a contest or even your critique partner. And who knows, you might not ever want to show this story to anyone! It's perfectly ok to write a novel just to write it, just for yourself--to test your boundaries, to let go in a world all your own, to try something new.

The business of publishing books and the art of writing books are two entirely different things--always remember that.

Back to The Fire:

While you are sitting there typing mindlessly (500 words a day or 5000 words a day, it doesn't matter), the Fire will happen. When you are least looking for it, suddenly there is a spark deep inside you from that place no one knows but you. You will feel it--the excitement, the flush, the sudden light-bulb coming on--you inside your story saying: This is what I mean! When that happens, just go with it. Write. Free flow. Let it happen.

I guarantee one of two things: The Fire will either produce your very best prose writing, or it will produce your very worst. That doesn't matter. If it's the best prose, cool. If it's the worst, you can fix it--what came out of you is the heart of the story; it doesn't matter if your sentences are clunky. Clunky sentences are easy to fix. Because even if you have to polish up the words, you've found the essence of the story and dragged it onto your canvas.

I hope this makes sense. I really does happen, even when you're sick of the story, bored with your characters, and upset about something in your personal life.

Train yourself to sit and write a set amount every day (500 words, 1000 words, five pages, whatever), no matter how you feel (upset, tired, bored, angry, etc.) It doesn't matter whether the writing your sessions produce is good or not--any little amount will move you forward to the end.

Don't wait for The Fire to write--just write. It's when you are loosened up and letting it happen that The Fire will come. There's nothing quite like it.

Category vs. single title and other things

Today I'm interviewing Nalini Singh who writes both category romance for Silhouette and single title paranormal romance at Berkley. Writers who write for HQ/Sil and single title houses at the same time are becoming more and more common, so I asked her what it was like:

J.A. You have started a single-title paranormal series with Berkley, but you also write category romance for HQ. How is writing single title different from category? Is one more challenging for you than the other?

N.S. It's difficult to compare the two, because they're so different. Each utilizes different skill-sets. For my short contemporaries, it's all about focusing on the two leads, while with my paranormals, world-building plays a critical part. They are both equally challenging, in their own unique ways.

J.A. On your road to publication, how did you handle rejection? How did you keep up your belief in yourself to keep going in the face of rejection? (If you were never rejected, skip the question!)

N.S. Oh yeah, I have a stack of rejections! I think what kept me going was this hunger I had to write. That's why I always ask people why they're writing. Because in the end, all you have to pull yourself up and keep the faith is your belief in what you're doing. That hunger, that passion, is so so important.

Another thing that helped was that I didn't focus obsessively on a project. I would love it, write, send it out, then start on something else, so a rejection wouldn't hit me as hard - yes it hurt, but I knew I'd have something else to go out with.

J.A. What would be your advice to a new writer trying to "break in?"

N. S. This is a cliche but it's true - write what you love. Forget about following the market. Be true to yourself. I wrote Slave to Sensation without knowing where I was going to sell it or if anyone would buy it. But my passion for the story came through and I believe that's what made it sell.

Have faith in yourself and the stories you want to tell. And be very choosy about who you allow to criticise your work. Don't write a book by committee. Stay true to your voice.

J.A. Describe your writing day--do you write full time or have a day job as well? If you'd like, please share ways you motivate yourself to keep writing and producing your great books.

N.S. I am fairly full time - I do occasional other work to stop from becoming a hermit but otherwise, I write. But that's a new development - until a few months ago, I worked full time. As such, my work days are still developing in terms of a routine but that's part of what I like about writing - you can set your own timetable, be flexible, so long as you meet deadlines.

My motivation is mostly internal. I want to write, to tell these stories. But to kickstart myself if necessary, I'll read or take a break from everything and then come back to it fresh.

J.A. Thank you!! I'm always interested to hear other authors' points of view.

Nalini has a March release from Berkley Sensation, Visions of Heat, second in her series, and in February released Bound by Marriage with Silhoutte Desire. You can read more about Nalini at
www.nalinisingh.com

and her blog at

www.nalinisingh.blogspot.com

Road to a Sale--One Author's Journey

For today's blog, I sent a few questions to Farrah Rochon, a brand-new author with Dorchester. I find the stories of authors’ paths to success to be inspiring. Each author had a different journey, reinforcing my belief that there is no one “right” or “sure” way to becoming a published author.

The similarities I find in each author’s story, though, is hard work, persistence, and a stubborn refusal to give up. Whether the sale comes from an agent, a contest, a meeting at a conference, the right ms. in the right slush pile at the right time—doesn’t matter. It was the hard work and persistence that got the manuscript ready to be sold in the first place.

Let me introduce Farrah Rochon, whose first book Deliver Me, a March 2007 release, is out in bookstores now.

J: How did you deal with rejections?

F.R. It's been said before that this business is not for the faint of heart. Truer words have never been spoken. The first time I sent a piece of my writing out, it was for a Missouri RWA chapter's writing contest. I placed fourth in that contest, and received wonderful feedback. I just knew the publishing contract would be forthcoming. I thought two, three months tops, and my book would be heading for the shelves. Well, it was more like five years, and during that time I received many rejection letters. However, I've never allowed myself to take even one of those rejections personally. Just as there are books that other people love that I hate, and vice versa, I knew that some editor out there was going to love my work. I just had to find "my" editor. So, I prayed, and I worked. I worked, and I prayed. I used a few swear words now and then, but then I went right back to praying and working. And waiting for my time. In my heart, I always knew I would be published.

J: How did your first sale come about?

F.R. I simply love my first sale story. In my opinion, it's the perfect example of how up and down this business can be. Last summer, I spent a great deal of time revising another manuscript for another publishing house. It was my second set of revisions, and I just knew they were going to buy this book. Well, they didn't. I was crushed when I received a rejection letter from the editor apologizing for not buying the book "even though she really loved the story and appreciated all the work I put into revising it". I spent the night venting to my friends, but vowed not to spend more than a day feeling sorry for myself. After all, I was becoming an old pro at the rejection thing.

That same night, I sent an email to my agent, letting him know about the rejection. The next day, July 13, 2006 at 1:16 p.m., my agent replied to my email stating how sorry he was about the rejection. But, he also had a bit of good news to share. He'd just received a call from Dorchester. They wanted Deliver Me. In less than twenty-four hours, I went from totally dejected, to totally elated. I haven't come down from Cloud Nine yet.

J: Thanks, Farrah, for sharing!

To readers: If there is a question you'd particularly like to see addressed here, please contact me through my website: www.jennifersromances.com (click the "e-mail" button at the top of the site.)

It's early days for this blog, and I have so much more to tell you. But I'd like to gear questions and answers to what people would like to know. Thanks much!!

More on Finishing Plus Guest Blogger Bonnie Vanak

Adding to last week’s entry—

I hear people say they cannot get motivated to work on a project they’ve been working on for a while. If you dread your writing session or completely avoid it, it’s clear you don’t want to work on that particular project.

My advice in that case is to put it aside and start another story, one that’s been hammering away at you. If you’ve been beating a story to death and it’s just not right (you know when it’s right, it feels right), then you are probably better off abandoning it.

Other authors might smack me for giving such advice, but I say why punish yourself? Writing is a grueling job. You need to love your characters and love what you write or you’re not going to be able to do it. If you hate the story you’re working on, will you be willing to write twenty more just like it once you’re published?

Ask yourself: Are you writing the story because it sings to you and you can’t get it out of your head? Or because “everyone” says paranormal romance is the only thing selling?

I have news, publishers like to round out their lists with things other than the “hot” trend of the day. In fact, said trend might tank any moment; you never know.

Work on what you believe in, what you want, and what you need. I guarantee it’s much easier to sit down and write something you love than try to write what everyone says you are supposed to write.

Now, I want to turn to Bonnie Vanak, guest blogger, who has some great writing tips. Read on!!

Bonnie Vanak sprang onto the historical romance scene in 2002 with her first Egyptian-set historical, The Falcon and the Dove. Since then she's written five connected novels set in Victorian and Edwardian-era Egypt, will do a couple more in the series, plus has sold two contemporary paranormals to Harlequin Nocturne.

J: Bonnie, you work at a day job which also requires a lot of travel. How do you juggle writing with working and traveling?

B.V.: Good question. Right now I'm juggling very fast and frantically with my first Nocturne deadline and a trip to Guatemala. Are there any sexy Alpha werewolves in Guatemala? LOL!

Usually I take the laptop with me on my travels and try to write at night in the hotel after a day in the field. Writing romance gives me a much-needed break from writing about poverty. I love writing romance because it's an escape into my imagination, whereas the day job deals with the grinding reality of poverty.

J: Your historicals are rich with detail about Egypt in the nineteenth century. Can you offer readers advice on how to get started researching the historical (or any other) novel?

B.V. Thank you! I like to start with basic research first on the internet when I'm starting a book, then narrow down the research with books and periodicals. Pick out interesting facts and tidbits, and for more detailed information, you can get library books and periodicals.

If you can, choose a time period that works well with your characters. For example, The Sword & the Sheath is set in 1919 Egypt. I chose that time frame because it's the period of Egypt's first revolution against the British occupation and it was a perfect backdrop for my heroine, Fatima.

Just as everyday Egyptians rebelled against the British, Fatima rebels against Tarik's arrogant attitude that women cannot be warriors. I used the actual women's march against the British occupation. Organized by Hoda Sha'rawi, the historic march of upper class Egyptian women set the stage for Sha'rawi to pioneer the Egyptian feminist movement.

Just as Sha'rawi courageously challenges British authority, Fatima does the same within her own tribe.

J: You made your first sale unagented, and then acquired an agent. What did you like about being unagented and what do you like about being agented? What are the disadvantages of either route?

B.V. What I liked about being unagented was it forced me to learn more about the business. The disadvantage was I had so much I had to learn and I made mistakes a good agent would catch. I'm still learning.

Having a great agent, like I have now, can open doors you've never dreamed of before... but it takes a while to find the right one. The personalities have to mesh, and it has to be a right fit. I'd advise anyone looking for an agent to find an agent who is passionate about your writing, NOT just the story you submit. Because that story might get rejected in NY, but if the agent loves your writing style, the enthusiasm will be passed on when s/he pitches the book to editors.

I'd advise aspiring authors to go the agent route, but don't stay only on that particular path. Submit to agents and editors and enter contests to grab their attention. Finish the book and start another. The next book you write may be the one that seals the deal.

J: Thank you! and congratulations on your new release The Sword and the Sheath. Visit the very cool series MySpace page for information and the book trailer:

http://www.myspace.com/bonnievanak

and her blog at http://bonnievanakjournal.blogspot.com

Intro and How to Finish Your Ms.

Welcome to Jennifer On Writing!

I hope to make this a teaching blog for aspiring and newly published authors, as well as a place for multi-published authors to share their experience.

I want to reach all writers in all genres, so please bookmark the page and feel free to forward the blog entries or the link to any aspiring authors you know. All I ask is that you credit the author who writes the post.

Next week I’ll post a guest blog by a brand new author, Farrah Rochon, whose first novel debuts in March.

This week let me kick things off by

1. Introducing myself and
2. Posting a short article about how to get the &()*) manuscript written.

1. Who are you and why are you doing this blog?

I sold my first novel in 2002 (got The Call). After that followed a whirlwind of sales: a contract for a mystery series at Berkley, another contract for romances at Dorchester, a contract for a mainstream historical novel, and then more contracts. In all, I’ve sold and written 23 books and six novellas. Six of these works are forthcoming in 2007; the rest have been published.

With all that crammed into five years, I’ve learned a lot very fast about the publishing business, marketing, readers, booksellers, and what people buy and don’t buy and why.

I am agented, have been since 2002, though this is my second agent. I’ve also learned a lot about agents, what they will and won’t do, and how a good agent can really help you (and a bad agent can hurt you).

If you want to know what books I’ve published see: www.jennifersromances.com, www.gardnermysteries.com, and www.allysonjames.com or look me up on Amazon or B&N.


2. Get It Done

I’m going to kick things off with something innocuous, but a problem area for many aspiring authors: How to get the darn ms. done.

You have an idea, you’re excited about it, it keeps you awake at night, you write notes on scrap paper at work and email yourself with thoughts about the book. And then you get a couple hours free time on the weekend and you try to start or continue working you’ve already done.

And you can’t.

Why not? What happened to the enthusiasm?

Thinking about writing, the burn of creativity, is a completely different thing from sitting down and typing sentences. Typing the sentences (400+ double-spaced pages of them) is Work.

It’s physical labor that stresses the joints and strains the eyes. It’s tiring, the words never come out right, and you face a million distractions.

I’ve written 23 books and 6 novellas. And still there are plenty of days I sit down and think, crap, I’m never going to get to page 200.

Here are some tricks I’ve learned to keep writing:

1. Don’t edit as you go along.

Your sentence isn’t going to be perfect the first time. Probably not even the second time. Just keep typing and don’t look.

My rule is No one gets to see my first draft. Not even my critique partner. It’s complete crud. I write the first draft without looking, then I go back through and fix it before I allow anyone to look at it. Get the story figured out first, then polish.

2. Set a fixed time and place to write.

Pick a time of day (early morning, late at night, lunch hour, whatever), and set aside that time to write. Once you get into the habit of always writing at that time, your brain will kick into writing gear (usually) when you sit down to start.

3. Get an Alpha Smart

An Alpha Smart (www.alphasmart.com) is a writer’s dream. It’s a lightweight text-only computer in which you type (on a regular sized keyboard) your rough draft. It saves each keystroke automatically and then you upload what you’ve done into your computer.

Bonus, it’s very difficult to edit what you’ve written on it. You’re forced to stick to typing out your rough draft (see #1).

4. Set a word count goal, not a time goal.

If you set a goal of writing for two hours, you could sit and stare out the window for two hours and write one sentence. If you set a goal of 1000 words in your writing session, you sit on your butt until you have those 1000 words done.

A word goal is better than a page goal because pages vary depending on how much short dialogue you write vs. long description. 1000 words is always 1000 words.

5. Trick yourself

I’m sorry to say I have to do this often. Go out to a coffee house or library or someplace by yourself, taking alphasmart or your laptop without Internet access.

Do not allow yourself to leave that place or look at anything else (no newspapers or books) until you’ve written a set number of words. When writing my story becomes the only entertainment available, you do it.

6. No Internet!

The Internet is a fun place. Gobs of news, pictures, movies, entertainment, not to mention all those chat loops and blogs where you can express your brilliant opinions to the masses.

Very distracting for the writer.

I’m an Internet junkie. But for me, checking the Internet or my email takes me out of the story, and I lose my momentum. I’ve forced myself to not allow myself Internet or email until after I’ve reached a certain number of words.

7. Reward yourself for success

If you make your daily word count goal for a week or get past page 300, reward yourself with dinner out, or buying something you’ve always wanted, or just taking a day off! (Or, if you’re me, getting on the Internet.)

***

I know I have not addressed issues such as family and friends. But each person knows their own personal situation best. You need to decide how to ask your friends and family to understand that this is important to you.

I got published just by writing books and submitting them. I didn’t know anyone in the business, I had no connections, no networks, no breaks, and I wasn’t a celebrity or prominent political figure.

I just wrote and wrote and finally I sold a book. People gave me the “what makes you think you can be a writer?” looks, but I ignored them and kept on plugging.

It’s not an impossible dream. It’s reachable reality.