Fiction Scribe

I say … and you think … ?

1. Groceries ::
2. Deodorant ::
3. Psychic ::
4. Cherries ::
5. Spooky ::
6. Yogurt ::
7. Kitchen ::
8. Nothing personal ::
9. Be nice ::
10. Delivery ::

Courtesy of Luna Nina

Hello and welcome to Fiction Scribe, Mr. McFadyen.

Thanks!

Let’s start with getting to know you a little better. List five things you feel define you as a person.

Hmmm…

The idea that it’s okay to do with your life what you want to do with your life.

The idea that you’re responsible for everything you do.

Music being timeless. By that I mean, I listen to my music, but I also listen to my parent’s music and a fair bit of my daughter’s. I think this has something to do with me, creatively, though I can’t say exactly what.

I love movies of all kinds. I have been, at times, a movie-holic.

I believe that man has a soul.

What inspired the initial idea for The Face of Death?

It was one of those things that kind of dropped from the sky. I often begin the creative process of the Smoky Barrett novels coming up with twisted ideas. She chases serial killers, and so they’re as much a part of the backbone of the story as she is. The idea of having a killer chase a young girl throughout her life, killing not her, but anyone she ever loves, kind of took my breath away. Most important, I saw a way of using it to really examine relationships. Characters are what writing is about for me, more so than situations, and I could see this would give a lot of opportunity in that regard.

I can tell from your author bio – “He lives in Southern California with his two black labs, often referred to as ‘The Black Forces of Destruction.’ He drinks coffee (copiously), plays guitar (badly), and reads (voraciously). He abhors adverbs in writing, except when used in short bios like this one.” – that you have a sense of humour. Do you ever get the chance to work humour into your books or are they strictly serious?

Thanks. I do try a little humor - but not too much. Humor is one of those things that either works completely or not at all. There are no near misses. I work some lightness in, but I curb the impulse perhaps more than I should.

Special Agent Smoky Barrett is female. Why did you choose to write with a female head character? Do you ever find it challenging to write for the opposite sex?

I never even considered the question until I was asked it the first time. Funny, isn’t that? But true. Smoky was a female character because there was nothing else she could possibly be, and she was such a compelling image in my mind that I had to write her. In many ways she wrote herself.

When it comes to writing about loss, or honor, or dignity, or any of those things, there’s not that much difference. Honor, in other words, is honor, whether the character is male or female. So is love. Subtle permutations can be more difficult, and I’ve basically gone with my gut. Generally, so far, I’ve gotten away with it. The areas I’ve been criticised on, by and large, have not been the big picture, but the smaller details. For example, sometimes my editor noted that Smoky made too many observations about a female form. A reader once said there wasn’t enough mention of accessories (shoes and the like).

I do try and keep in mind that people will have differing opinions. Just this morning, in fact, I got two emails. Here are brief quotes from each:

“I like the concept of the book which is the only reason I am continuing to read it but Smokey is NOT a real woman!”

and then:

“You are the first male author I have encountered who can climb inside a woman character and get it perfectly right… thank you. You know Smoky better than most women know themselves.”

These emails came in within 10 minutes of each other.

Who is right? Probably both, which is the thing you have to keep in mind when you create anything: some people are going to like it, some people aren’t.

What kind of research do you do for your books?

I research anything I write about that needs research. I buy texts, use the internet and find and consult professionals where I can.

What are your dreams for your writing? Where do you see yourself in five years both as a writer and as a person?

My hope is simply to continue to be published and to be able to continue to make a living doing so. Wealth and fame are nice by anyone’s yardstick, but I’ll be happy with writing as my 9-5. As a person, I hope to have continued to learn about myself. My big hope as a person is to make a difference for the better in the lives of those important to me, be they family or friends. I hope in five years to look back and feel good about my actions in that regard.

What is the most valuable piece of advice you have been given/learned in your life as a writer?

To write honestly. You know the moment you enter artifice. The reader will know it, too.

Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers here?

Thanks for reading!

If you’re a non-Australian looking for a good lesson in fast-paced writing, then you need look no further than Australia.

One of the first things I noticed about Australian language and speaking, besides the actual accent, is the habit of the majority of Australians to interrupt. But far from simply being a very rude country all over, it’s actually the way of the language.

Maybe it’s because Americans have guns, so if you piss them off you could get shot, but Australians don’t place such a high importance on waiting until a person is completely finished speaking. Instead, if they think they know what you are going to say, where you are going with the conversation, or even if something relevant has popped into their minds, they won’t hesitate to speak up.

I’ve puzzled over this for a while and come to the conclusion that Australians place more importance in the ideas and messages being conveyed rather than the actual words.

How does this help you with your writing?

If what you’re working on is starting to turn yawn-inspiring, take a lesson from Australians; don’t be afraid to interrupt your characters. Be it their inner monologues, discussions with other characters, or even switching perspectives from one chapter to another. Don’t place the ultimate importance on what they are saying or thinking.

Don’t be polite to your characters.

If you want to try this out in exercise form first, take two characters and write a scene (or more) consisting of interruptions galore. Just remember that moderation is usually a good thing.

Note: I’m not trying to start some ‘my country is the best’ war or anything. Any comments I make are out of good humor, as it is the Aussie way to make fun of everyone (including each other), and these traits have been rubbing off on me over the past near two years.

Picture Credit: Brand Noise

I don’t like fancy journals. Hardbound is great for books, but when it comes to things I write in, spiral bound please. No fancy covers – though hard covers can be nice when you write on the road a lot. No fifty-dollar, hard cover, hard bound, engraved with my name on the cover notebooks or journals.

I won’t write in them.

There are no exceptions – at least, there hasn’t been so far in my life. I have given good attempts at writing in the fancy books I receive, but I never keep going.

Just give me a crap notebook and I’ll be happy.

No, you don’t need to run over a perfectly nice notebook just for me, but give me a lined, spiral bound notebook that you or your child would use for school and I’ll be happy. A notebook that will take more damage than an idiot driver in a little red sports car is just fine.

Why the crappy notebooks? Why can’t I write beautiful things in a beautiful notebook?

Well, I can. Or rather, I can try. But the thing is, I don’t write beautiful things from the first go. That’s why there are things called drafts. In my first draft? Well, that’s where I need to give myself permission to write the real crap. Let the hero save the princess just so I can get it out of my system and then go ahead and kill him when he finds out she’s been having an affair with his father in the next draft.

Crappy, cheap, plain notebooks give writers space and permission to get things – no matter how stupid, silly, whatever they are – out of their system. They can explore angles without having to worry about cleaning ripping out pages so they don’t show or scribble marks.

Save your fancy journals. Give me a crappy notebook any day.

Otherwise known as acting like a complete ass.

Could it be? Could it truly be? Are pet peeves back? Is JM finally complaining again about each and every little literary thing that annoys her?

Not quite, but I was so entirely pissed off about something this morning (and not able to do anything about it) that I thought about my beloved pet peeves. While 55 is a nice number and I would have liked to leave it at that, this person’s actions annoyed me so much that I decided to bump it up. (I will send a book on technical writing, an Australian postcard, Australian chocolate, and whatever other goodies I can get on short notice to the first person who can tell me which of my pet peeves I committed in that sentence.) At least by one pet peeve.

So here we are.

I’ve sort of mentioned this before in Net Speak, but it’s apparent that it bears repeating.

Since becoming involved with online author/book promotions, I have started talking to many more people. Because of this, I get the chance to observe many of the positive and negative sides of human behavior.

Of course I won’t mention any names, but there was a certain author that a friend of mine organized some online promotion for. And this was no regular online promotion because the author made my friend reschedule everything not once, not twice, but three times. Perhaps even four or five, but I stopped counting.

This person had their promotion and that was that. Until yesterday, when my friend received an email from this author, requesting a certain piece of promotion. My friend directed the author to where the promotion could be found. The author responded that it was not the link but the original file that this person was after.

It had already gotten rude at that point, but my friend promised to get the original file. The response to that?

I WILL TAKE LEGAL ACTION ON YOU IF YOU DON’T GET ME WHAT I WANT. BLAH, BLAH. I’M INCREDIBLY UNPROFESSIONAL AND DEMANDING OF THINGS DESPITE YOU HAVE NO CONTRACTUAL OR LEGAL OBLIGATION TO GET ME WHAT I WANT.

Of course, that’s not a direct quote. The author would probably threaten to sue me next if I used a direct quote. But you see what I mean. My friend provided a service and was fine with contacting the third party to get the original promotion file, but this person reacted not only unprofessionally as a client, but as an author.

If you’re a writer and need to resort to all capitals to get your point across, then you need to take some classes. If you’re a writer (or anyone for that matter) and think treating people like this is okay, then you should seek professional counseling. If you think threats of legal action will get you everything you want as a writer, you are sorely mistaken.

It’s the friends that you make in this industry that will help you get places. Making enemies will simply get you ignored.

Hello all and welcome to a new week. As usual on Mondays, I have a few reminders for you.

*This is the last week you can submit your posts to the September edition of the Scribes Blog Carnival. The deadline is this Thursday, so make sure to get your entries in for next Monday. Go here for the submissions page. Also remember that there is a limit of two entries per person. If you enter more than that, I’ll decide which two go in. (Or I’ll decide you can’t follow directions and just delete all your entries.)

If you want to read some of my poetry be sure to sign up at The Oddville Press to receive the very first issue which includes a poem from yours truly inside. I believe the deadline has passed to make it into the first issue, but you can still submit your work for future issues.

*You can find plenty of opportunities to win books at West of Mars. This blog is updated almost daily and almost always more than once in one day. So be sure to subscribe to it in your feed reader or just check back often.

*Call out for guest posts. I will be gone in the beginning of October and have no hope of being able to write enough to cover all my time away. If you would like your post (including your name and a link to your site) featured here on Fiction Scribe in October, leave a comment on this post or email me.

*Fat Chick Love call for submissions. Fat Chick Love is a new site and they are calling for stories. You can check out their site. Scroll to the very bottom of the page for their submissions information. They look like a new site and a non-paying one as well. As always, keep in mind that I am merely the messenger - I am not responsible for what happens should you choose to submit your stories to the places I mention here.

And that’s it for today. If you would like your contest, call for submissions, publication announcement, or other writing news mentioned here, let me know via comment, email, or contact me button on the right under the site description.

I say … and you think … ?

1. Cry ::
2. Stretch ::
3. Efficient ::
4. Brunch ::
5. Afro ::
6. Preheat ::
7. Delicious ::
8. Global warming ::
9. Actions ::
10. Ride ::

Courtesy of Luna Nina

I have been very fortunate in my life in that I became friends with people who provide me with ample numbers of books to review. Getting free books in exchange for in depth reviews still amazes me. Because of that, I like to pass on any and all similar opportunities to you.

Check out her site, say hello, and don’t forget to tell her you found out about her from JM!

Hello, fellow book lovers! My name is Lisa Roe and I am an online book publicist. I connect people who write online with the books that I’m working on. I represent the publisher, distributor, or author of a book and work to find various outlets online for them. I work a little different than most. I am actively involved online and take a very personal approach to my work, reading people’s content and familiarizing myself with the interests of the bloggers I work with.

I encourage you to stop by my website: http://onlinepublicist.net. If you find a title that is of interest to you for coverage on your online outlet, send me a note through the contact page. I will then have the book sent your way. Once it arrives, we discuss a review date that fits your schedule. If there is nothing that currently interests you for review, send me a message through the contact page and ask to be added to my email list. I add new titles monthly and will alert you to that as well as any guest posts I may do.

It really is this easy! Feel free to search my name online to see what others have said about working with me. I am passionate, dedicated, and honest in my work. I hope to have the opportunity to add you to my list of online friends!

Hello and welcome to Fiction Scribe, Ms. Burton.

Great to be here! Thank you for having me!

Let’s start with getting to know you a little better. List five things you feel define you as a person.

My writing. My yoga practice. My puppies, Bella and Buddy, who both are sleeping beside me know. Baking—When I’m stuck on a scene I head to the kitchen. Reading—I love to read.

What was the initial inspiration behind I’M WATCHING YOU?

The heroine Lindsay O’Neil came to me first. She’d been rattling around in my head for about a year and it took me that long to write a story that worked for her.

Tell us about Lindsey.

Lindsay is a strong woman. She’s a caring woman and she wants to save all the underdogs. She’s overcome some tough stuff and though she keeps trying to move forward the past won’t let go of her.

I’M WATCHING YOU involves both elements of stalking, murder, and crime investigation. What kind of research did you do for the book?

I did lots of search for this book. I attended the Henrico County Citizens Police Academy, which was a twelve week commitment. I did a ride along with a police officer, interviewed a domestic abuse expert and read more books than I can count.

What is your writing process like? Where do you start? How does the initial spark light?

The process generally starts with the character. For I’M WATCHING YOU it was Lindsay and for my latest book, DEAD RINGER, it was the heroine Kendall Shaw. Once I understand them, I start thinking about the other characters. Once I have my major characters then I start to design a plot.

What are your dreams for your writing? Where do you see yourself in five years both as a writer and as a person?

I want to keep doing what I’m doing—writing on deadline, dreaming about the next story and chasing my dogs.

What is the most valuable piece of advice you have been given/learned in your life as a writer?

Keep writing. If you receive a rejection, keep writing. If you’re shopping a proposal around and haven’t heard back yet, keep writing. No matter what, just keep writing.

Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers here?

I’ve got two releases in November 2008, DEAD RINGER, which features Kendall’s story and a novella in the SILVER BELLS anthology, Christmas Past. The novella is Nicole’s story.

Thank you very much for coming by this blog. I wish you great successes with I’M WATCHING YOU.

Thank you!!

Once again, I am a bit late on completing the 100 Words Challenge from Velvet Verbosity, but I am slowly catching up with everything.

So goes the life of a freelance writer, hm?

This week the word to write about is Fresh, so let’s get to it, shall we?

I love going to the food market on a sunny weekend afternoon. Markets are something I never truly got to experience before I came to Australia, and I have been in love with them since going to my first one here.

No, this is real food. Fresh food. Food that reminds you of your connection to the earth and all it provides.

Oh, another week away from Frank Talbert. I think he’s getting a little angry at me for ignoring him, but I’ll give him (and Treasure) more space to play in the next prompt.

When I thought of the word ‘fresh’ the first thing that came to my mind was the fresh food markets they have all around where I live (and around Australia, I imagine). There was no way I was going to be able to write about anything else, that’s for sure.

It’s not my best work, by any means, but it does give me pleasant memories and anticipation of future market travels as well. So I hope you enjoyed it.

Be sure to leave a link to where you’ve posted your fresh response.

One of the things you can do to promote your book is arrange for a virtual book tour. I work for Pump Up Your Book Promotion and when I’m not posting here, I’m most often talking to the authors whose tours I’m coordinating and talking to the tour hosts as well.

Virtual book tours are exactly that – you get to tour around the internet for an allotted amount of time (anywhere from two weeks to two months depending on which company you go with). You are hosted by bloggers (and websites) that volunteer to spotlight your book, interview you, review your book, put up a guest post about your book, put up other things, or a combination of two or more of these things.

As the author, all you have to do is answer all the questions, write the guest posts and get them back to your tour coordinator on time. If you want reviews, you also either have to send out the books or make sure the person who sends out the books gets all the addresses in time for the books to get out to the reviewers.

Now, I’m not posting this to sell you a tour. I don’t get a special bonus or anything like that if you sign up and mention you signed up because of me. That’s not what this is about.

What I would like you to take away from these posts is the knowledge that writing the book is just the first step. Publishing the book is another step, but it’s certainly not the last step. If you want your book to be successful, there is work above and beyond writing and publishing.

And it’s called marketing.

A good reference to check out if you are a bit stuck on how to promote your book or where to start, even if you aren’t going to self-publish, is The Well Fed Self-Publisher. He has been a guest writer here on Fiction Scribe a few times, so be sure to check out those posts as well.

Rather than have you all think I am simply terribly slack and leave it like that, I’d like to explain just why I have been posting at less than my usual frequency (apart from the usual ‘life got in the way’ reasons).

While I would rather leave the subject of author promotions alone – at least for the time being – the reality of publishing a book in today’s world means you are more likely than not going to have to tell a publishing authority (agent, editor, etc) what you plan to personally do to market your book.

Oh, but won’t the publishing company take care of that? Maybe.

You might get your publisher to send out review copies to people, but you will probably need to find those people, which means time. Then again, the publisher may just send the books to you to send out, which means money on top of time. To find people who are going to have a good influence and number of readers, you’ll have to do research, which means work as well as money as well as even more time.

If you are still wondering why your publisher won’t simply do this all for you, then you need to realize that even after you are taken on as an author, you’re still not quite as special as you think in their eyes.

Unless you become a bestseller, but that comes after promotion.

When you are looking around for agents and publishers, what you are willing to do to promote your book. You might say, “Well, anything! I’ll do anything to get the word out about my book.”

That’s all fine and well in theory, but you need to think about what you actually have the time, money and patience to do.

FictionScribe: Hey JM.

FS: Okay. You’d better.

Yes, my sites and I have conversations like that with each other. Really.

Anyway, yes, I have been taking a bit of a break here and there from my sites, but I am back and ready to write once more. Especially after a particularly inspiring night at the pub. (Not what you’re thinking; I’m not even allowed to drink coffee until next month, let alone alcohol.) Today I’m back with a few announcements about things here and there. The usual level of fangirl screaming excitement.

First off, I am being published. No, not my novel. That’s still sitting in printed off form in my bad feeling bruised and battered after an especially vicious editing session. No, I’m talking about poetry.

The Oddville Press has decided I can write a decent poem and will be publishing my poem – Coffee Shop Poet Wannabe – in their first edition online magazine. Sign up at their site now if you’d like the ezine delivered straight to your email index and don’t forget to submit some of your work as well while you’re there.

More good news of a publishing nature: My dear friend Lyndsey D’Arcangelo – former writer of Lez Keep it Real – is getting her novel published. The Trouble with Emily Dickinson will be released autumn 2008 and is now available for pre-order at the Alpha World Press site for a discounted price.

Congratulations Lyndsey!

Keep checking in at the Chicken Soup for the Soul site. There are quite a few deadlines that are coming up at the end of this month (if they haven’t gone early) so make sure you get your true stories in soon.

Don’t forget to submit your entries to the Scribes Blog Carnival using the submissions page. The next edition will be going up September 1st.

Also don’t forget that I am looking for guest posters to write for me on all my sites while I’m away at the Conflux writer’s conference at the beginning of October. Email me if you have any questions or post ideas.

That’s all for now. This got a bit longer than I had originally intended. I hope you all have/had an excellent start of the week.

Today we are joined by historical fiction author Suzanne Woods Fisher who is on virtual tour this month with her book Copper Fire. If you have any questions or comments, please don’t be shy. Say hello.

Hello and welcome to Fiction Scribe, Ms. Fisher.

Thank you for letting me stop by today!

Let’s start with getting to know you a little better. List five things you feel define you as a person.

My faith. My family. My love of the written word. My determination. My sense of humor.

Tell us a little bit about Copper Fire.

Copper Fire is the sequel to Copper Star, picking right up at the very end of World War II. On a summer day in 1945, my main character, Louisa, receives a telegram from the International Red Cross Tracing Service. She discovers that her cousin, Elisabeth, has just been released from Dachau. Louisa is determined to go to Germany to get Elisabeth…and that’s where the story begins.

Where did the inspiration for Copper Fire come from?

It started with Copper Star. I try to write about interesting people who have been overlooked. For example: Louise Tracy, wife of Spencer Tracy. In 1942, Louise Tracy started a foundation (The John Tracy Clinic) to teach oral communication (lip reading and speaking) to pre-school age children. She and Spencer had a deaf son, John. Louise ignored the conventional wisdom of the day (sending John to an institution to learn sign language) and had remarkable success teaching him to communicate. There’s a deaf child in Copper Star and its sequel, Copper Fire.

I contacted the JTC while writing Copper Star and was able to write it into the storyline, with their blessing. Louise Tracy was a remarkable woman. Way ahead of her times! I loved being able to bring attention to such a woman through this novel.

Tell us about Louisa Gordon.

I wish I were more like my main character, Louisa, the young resistance worker smuggled out of Germany by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. She’s funny, determined, smart… and flawed. And she knows it! She has an ability not to take herself too seriously.

Copper Fire features Louisa Gordon traveling to war-torn Germany. What kind of research did you do to give the background and settings an authentic feel?

I researched that post-war time period as thoroughly as possible, even down to the weather in the summer of 1945. I have traveled to Dachau and to Germany. I seek out the input of experts and knowledgeable people; I want my books to be credible. The fun of historical fiction is that you’re learning as you read, painlessly.

What are your dreams for your writing? Where do you see yourself in five years both as a writer and as a person?

Every day, I feel grateful to be writing, and to have contracts with such wonderful publishing houses. I hope to be continuing to grow as a writer and to develop my skills. Sounds funny, but I hope each book is better than the one before.

What is the most valuable piece of advice you have been given/learned in your life as a writer?

My motto: “Everybody is talented, original and has something important to say.” Brenda Ueland, If You Want to Write (Graywolf Press, 1938).

Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers here?

A while ago, I went to my first writers’ conference expecting to connect with editors, plug a few queries, well, you know the drill. I left the conference with something even better: Three new writer friends all at the same “career place.”

We have kept in touch (a cinch for e-mail junkies), edit each others’ work, and even wrote a devotional together to encourage new writers called Grit for the Oyster. I went to the conference with one intention; God had another one in mind. So my parting words are: Stay open. Stay optimistic. And remember that if God calls you to write, He’s not calling you to be the best, just to give your best.

And just to let you know about a few things in the works…

In late August, Grit from the Oyster: 250 Pearls of Wisdom for Aspiring Writers, will be released from Vintage Spirit. I wrote Grit with three other very talented authors. For the Love of Dogs is a fun novel, set in 1969, due out in February (Vintage).

And more exciting news! I am working on three novels for Revell/Baker, as well as a non-fiction book called Amish Peace in an English Life (also with Revell/Baker).

Come find me on-line at www.suzannewoodsfisher.com

Thank you very much for coming by this blog. I wish you great successes with Copper Fire.

Thank you for hosting me today!

While we would all love to write a bestseller and have it pay for all the bills plus a summer home in Italy, it’s just plain not possible for the majority of authors. Even becoming a published author doesn’t mean you can quit your day job – especially these days. No longer do artists, writers, etc have patrons who are willing to pay the way for that next great piece of literary genius. (I suppose you could call my husband my patron, but that’s getting beyond the point.)

So we do what we must to pay the bills. If we’re lucky, it’s within the realm of what we love to do: write.

However, as appealing as writing for a living (and not in the novel writing way), you have to be even more careful with scheduling and making time to write creatively, or you run the risk of never finishing your book.

I write a lot. I work at home as a freelancer and writing is what has paid my bills since I have moved to Australia. I have since taken on other non-writing work, but writing is a big source of my income. I write (type) thousands of words every day.

So why is it that my novel isn’t progressing?

Because by the time I am doing getting all my work done, I want to go relax. I don’t want to sit on the computer for another hour on another project, no matter how much I love my novel.

So if you are (non-creative) writing for a living or thinking about a career in freelance writing, make sure it is what you truly want to do and that you’ll have the time and energy for the other things you want to accomplish. Don’t go so far that you’ll find yourself in the situation that I’m currently in – seemingly no time for creative writing and trying to figure out where to step back in order to make life, and fiction writing, more than just a to-do list item.