Unexpected Benefits
March 25, 2009 by Marianne H. Donley in category Archives tagged as Lori Pyne, Musings At Midnightby Lori Pyne
I knew that studying character and character development would assist with the creation of three dimensional people in my fictional worlds. What surprised me was how understanding fictional characters’ goals, motivations, conflicts, fatal flaws, and so on helped me gain a deeper insight into living, breathing individuals: co-workers, friends, family, other parents on the playground. Real people.
Let me give two examples of writing lessons and how they have assisted me beyond my writing.
During an online class on the differences between males and females, the instructor explained that most men have poor peripheral vision and can focus on something to the exclusion of everything else. There was a discussion on evolution, men being hunters, women being caretakers and how the differences aided those separate roles.
After I finished reading the lesson, I went in search of my husband. I asked him follow me into the office to read an interesting lesson. He rose from his easy chair, stepped over the pile of newspapers at his feet and followed me to the back bedroom. When he finished, he raised his eyebrow. I explained that I now understood that he truly did not see the pile of newspapers that he’d just stepped over. I promised that I would not complain about such future oversights, if he would not feel I was nagging him when I pointed out a previously unseen mess. Mutual understanding was reach and a more collaborative partnership was created because of a writing lesson.
In a workshop on secondary characters, I learned that every character, even the villain, is the hero of his or her story, even if not the Hero of the current story being written and that secondary characters’ actions are motivated by that viewpoint.
So all of the villains in my life: my girlfriends’ ex-husbands, the backstabbing co-workers, the erratic drivers during my commute, all are the heroes of their own stories and view their actions as justified. My outrage is a waste of time and energy. Therefore, unless it is a life threatening or job threatening situation, I have learned to shake my head and go on with me life.
Have any writing lessons helped you in your day to day life or your own person relationships?
Information on the Google Settlement
March 24, 2009 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Google SettlementAs some of you may know, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Author’s Guild launched a lawsuit against Google. Here is some background and info that may impact you:
Publishers have been asked to help in the task of notifying authors about the Google Litigation Settlement Agreement. In October 2008, AAP announced that a Settlement Agreement had been reached which, upon court approval, would resolve the two pending Google Book Search copyright infringement lawsuits – a class action suit brought against Google by the Authors Guild, and a separate suit brought against Google by five AAP members supported by AAP.
Because it resolves a class action lawsuit, the Settlement Agreement, if approved, will affect the rights of all book authors, book publishers and other persons – both inside and outside the United States – who own a U.S. copyright interest in books or certain other copyrighted works that Google, without permission, has scanned or may scan and display. It is important that such “class members†receive timely notice of the Settlement Agreement so they may exercise their rights and options, including whether to opt out of the settlement or, if not, claim their books.
With AAP, the Authors Guild and Google are coordinating notice efforts to ensure that their combined actions will satisfy the class action legal requirement to provide “the best notice practicable under the circumstances, including individual notice to all members who can be identified through reasonable effort.†Publishers have been asked to provide notice of the Settlement Agreement to their authors and direct them to the official settlement website at http://www.googlebooksettlement.com.
Please share the information with anyone you think might have had their work impacted.
Thanks!
Isabel Swift
New Sale Story
March 23, 2009 by A Slice of Orange in category Lyon's Lair tagged as Lyon's LairAt the last OCC meeting, I received two roses for selling two more books in the Wing Slayer Hunter Series. When I went up to get the roses, I just gave a brief line about the next book and got off the stage.
My friends were annoyed with me. They said I should have talked more about all the books, and the series, and the sexy hunters…but that isn’t exactly what I would have wanted to say.
This is…
This series is about magic, and the witches and witch hunters who wield the magic to fight against evil. The first book, BLOOD MAGIC, is truly the book I always wanted to write and, interestingly enough, it was the hardest book I’ve written. I drew on everything I had, and when that wasn’t enough, I drew on friends: Marianne Donley, Laura Wright, Michele Cwiertny, Maureen Child, Kate Carlisle, Mindy Neff, Michelle Thorne, Sandy Chvostal and some that I’m sure I’m forgetting. They never let me lose faith in the book or myself, and they stepped in when I was in a panic. During revisions when I was so lost I couldn’t eat or sleep, Marianne said, “Send it to me right now.” And they got right back to me with suggestions that were dead on.
Friends like that? Priceless.
And my ace in the hole? I love my editor. I clicked with her from the first time I talked to her. She worked hard on that book, pushing me to do major revisions, always there to answer questions or brainstorm. We have a genuine respect for each others talents, and a trust that we each will do exactly what we say we will. She made BLOOD MAGIC a better book, and me a better writer.
Then the economy tanked. My publisher restructured and laid off employees.
I was trying not to panic.
My editor called to assure me that my place at Random House was secure. Oh good! My editor still had her job! The book was still on track to publish. I turned in the second book and wrote the proposal to sell more books in the series and was feeling pretty good.
Six weeks later, my agent let me know my editor had been laid off.
I was devastated. Losing an editor who believes in our work at such a critical time, particularly when publishers are tightening and cutting, meant the series could be dead before it even got started. My agent swore it was okay. I tried to believe her. (My agent and I were both very sad for my editor, who was simply a victim of the economy as a last hire.)
The weeks of waiting were endless. I did revisions on the second book, and kept trying to believe that they would buy more books.
It was getting harder.
Then I got the call from my agent that the publisher had offered for two more books.
Selling two more books under these circumstances is amazing, incredible and makes me feel very lucky. In spite of the tough economy, BLOOD MAGIC is doing well and the series is starting off strong.
So the one thing I want to get across is that this business of publishing—it’s always a struggle. But doesn’t that make success so much sweeter?
And the friends we make along the way? Priceless!
Jennifer Lyon always wanted to be a witch. When her witch-powers didn’t materialize, she turned to creating magic in her books. BLOOD MAGIC is the first book in an enchanting, passionate and supernatural series. Visit Jennifer Lyon at www.jenniferlyonbooks.com
Advice to Myself as a Newbie Author
March 22, 2009 by A Slice of Orange in category Advice to Myself as a Newbie Author by Shauna Roberts tagged as Advice to Myself as a Newbie Author, Linda Wisdomby Shauna Roberts
http://ShaunaRoberts.blogspot.com
Today’s Guest: Linda Wisdom
Linda Wisdom was born and raised in Huntington Beach, California. She majored in Journalism in college then switched her major to Fashion Merchandising when she was told there was no future for her in fiction writing. She held many positions ranging from retail sales to executive secretary in advertising and office manager for a personnel agency.
Her career began when she sold her first two novels to Silhouette Romance on her wedding anniversary in 1979. Since then, she has sold more than seventy novels and one novella to four different publishers. Her books have appeared on various romance and mass market bestseller lists and have been nominated for several Romantic Times awards and Romance Writers of America Rita Award.
She lives with her husband, her spoiled rotten Chihuahua-Yorkie, and an equally spoiled parrot in Murrieta, California.
Several of Linda’s books, including her Hex paranormal series, has been optioned for film and television. Her newest book is Wicked By Any Other Name (Sourcebooks Casablanca), part of the Hex series.
Linda, if you could travel back in time to before you were first published, what advice would you give yourself?
Yes, I would hope I’d listen to my own advice, but that doesn’t always happen. So easy to go your own way and make your own mistakes, even if there’s a chance you won’t have to.
So what would I do?
Of course, when I sold my first two books there was very little information out there for authors. There was no RWA, and you relied heavily on your agent and editor.
I would make sure to have an agent who would look out for my interests and if that person weren’t doing so, then I’d be on the hunt for someone who did.
Learning about the creativity side of writing can be easy and talking to other authors can even help there. But the business side is just as important if not more at times. Back then I could read and understand a contract, but I still didn’t know the ins and outs of publishing contracts. If you don’t understand a clause, ask questions.
The best piece of advice I’ve carried with me since high school is “If you don’t understand something, don’t pretend you do. Ask questions.†And after all these years, I still do.
I would tell myself back then that change is good even if it means venturing into new territory. That I can’t be afraid of the prospect. That I should embrace that new territory as a challenge and just go for it.
I would sit myself down with the talk, “Foremost, this is a business, even if you’re doing what you love. But if you keep on learning and doing what it takes, you’ll have the experience of a lifetime.â€
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To learn more about Linda, please visit her Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/lindawisdombooks and and her blog at http://wickedlyromantic.blogspot.com. You can purchase her newest book, Wicked By Any Other Name (Sourcebooks Casablanca), at your local bookstore as well as at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Borders.
Member at Large
March 19, 2009 by Marianne H. Donley in category Archives tagged as Member At Largeby
Monica K Stoner
Recently we spent most of the weekend in Santa Fe. Not, alas, strolling through galleries drooling over what we can’t afford. Nor were we taking advantage of the multitude of museums. Instead, we were watching our state government at work, while waiting to hear a bill read in committee, at which time our group intended to stand in support of an amendment.
What does this have to do with writing?
Until this weekend, I still had some foolish idea our laws were made by people who paid attention one hundred percent of the time. When in fact the time we spent watching the House in action was more like watching study hall with the teacher absent. The Legislative Committee spent a lot of their time trying to catch up on the mountain of paperwork in front of each of them, and often were reading an amendment as it was being presented. This in addition to grabbing a bite to eat, slurping down drinks, and catching up on other business, prior to being called down to the Senate floor for an afternoon session.
Not to take anything away from these people, they have a year?’s worth of work to cram into sixty days, and they need to try to please both their constituents and their fellow legislators. The entire experience was eye opening to say the least.
Which got me to thinking, if this is what happens in what is generally presumed to be a gathering of serious people, what goes on in a publishing house? Again, not taking anything away from those overworked and underpaid in the publishing business. They certainly earn every penny of that paycheck. However, recent conversations in an excellent on line critique group concerned a disconnect between what people are told at conferences is wanted by a certain editor and what is actually accepted. Leading, of course, to frustration, angst and outright confusion on the part of those who dutifully submitted what they were told was wanted. How, they ask, can we know what to write if the editors don’t know what they want? Good question, one which has plagued me for many a blank page.
How can I write what they want?
Epiphany here, boys and girls. I can’t. What I can do is write what I want, what I believe in, what comes tripping off my arthritic short nailed (okay, ragged nails!) fingers at a rate ranging from slug to smoking. I can send it hither and yon, obviously not sending light fantasy to dark suspense but otherwise casting my children to the wind, and watching them fly away, to come back with good tidings. Hey, I write fantasy and romance, I have the right to high expectations. Eventually what I write will resonate with someone on the other end who needed just that book to fill out their day. Dang, now I’ve taken away my best excuse NOT to write.
Happy writing, and maybe I’ll get a manicure one of these days.
