DON’T LET YOUR AGENDA GET IN THE WAY OF YOUR STORY
Whether you realize it or not, you have an agenda. Though I’ve covered this topic in degrees before, I want to address it specifically. The muse hit again!
AGENDAS
Okay. You have this great fictional story about such and such. The muse is hot. Write while the inspiration and time allows. Whether you’re a seat-of-the-pants writer like me, or you like to outline every step, it’s time to sit down and get to work. The whole purpose of creating your story is to write about something you like, something (I hope) you have to write, something you hope other people will want to read. That being said, you want to make sure whatever your fantastic story will become, it doesn’t devolve into preaching an agenda.
Let’s face it. It’s hard not to let our personal feelings, experiences and prejudices color our work. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s when it becomes blatant that there’s a problem.
PEOPLE HAVE EXPECTATIONS
Everything has a label, a category, a place on the shelf, so to speak. If you write a murder mystery, people expect it to be a murder mystery. When a reader gets halfway through the story and gets the feeling the author is trying to convert them to the Catholic faith, or trying to make them vote either democratic or republican, there’s a problem, folks. If the story is a romance, and halfway through the story, the reader feels like they’re being told to go down and protest at an abortion clinic, we have a problem. In these cases, the truth isn’t in the advertising.
A LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY
We all subconsciously throw our beliefs into our work.
The key is to make sure that you edit out the heavy-handed preaching. The best writers leave their readers guessing which way their wind blows. A good writer will have readers either never even wondering about their religious, political or sexual leanings, or they’ll speculate and never come close to the truth.
I’ve felt that way about many authors until they spoiled it by going public. I never intend to do that. I have my own beliefs and biases, but since I don’t want to poison the pool and alienate any potential readers, I’ll keep my opinions private. Too many people out there feel so strongly about religion, politics and sex that they’ll refuse to read your work, no matter what, because you don’t believe the way they do. Or, if they do, they’ll be chasing shadows, looking for an agenda that isn’t there. I don’t want to have to worry about that.
If your agenda becomes too blatant, you’re taking a stance, placing yourself in a position where you’re going to potentially lose half your readers, maybe more, depending on where you stand on each issue.
WHAT ABOUT BLATANT AGENDAS?
There are certain authors, both fiction and especially non-fiction that have agendas. To them, that’s the whole point. They’re targeting a specific audience. There’s nothing wrong with that. Some of them cross over between fiction and non-fiction. They have their niche crowd but to everyone that knows them, they’re just as much avoided for their stances as sought out by those that agree with them. They’ve automatically lost half their audience.
An example is an author in our group that writes specifically for a gay audience. There’s nothing wrong with that. He writes in multiple genres, but with a gay element always present. That’s his agenda, but he makes no secret about it so everyone knows where he’s coming from. Of course, he caters to a specific audience. He’s potentially lost half his audience yet there are those straight people that aren’t disturbed by certain gay themes. Who knows?
HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO RESTRICT YOUR AUDIENCE?
This all boils down to how much do you want to present your agenda over how much of an audience do you want to reach? Are you interested in the widest reach, or are you out to preach to the choir? If you think you’re going to trick or convert people to your point of view, I’ve got news for you. Especially in fiction, I don’t think so. You’re just as likely to piss people off and lose half your audience. You’ll be known as that author.
The choice is yours.
Happy writing!
WRITER’S CONFERENCE – OPENING THE DOOR
It’s one thing to write your novel, short story, essay, poem, article or screenplay. Then there’s the editing, reading to a writer’s group (which I highly recommend) or even to friends. What now? For a true writer, your main motivation should be to write. Secondary is of course, to get published. That next step is a huge one.
PITCHING BY MAIL
Most writers, through books and other resources like the internet, find out which agents, and publishers to pitch their material and start the query process. Once in a while, someone hits the literary lotto, but this is quite rare, especially in today’s market with all the competition.
A DIFFERENT APPROACH
The thing about mail/e-mail is that it’s impersonal. Even though you may have met some great e-mail buddies over the net (I know I have) over the years, there’s no way that’s ever going to happen with anyone in publishing. No agent, publisher, editor or marketer is EVER going to know who you are through any writing or electronic medium unless you’ve already won the lotto (it does happen). So, all those queries you’re sending out may not do the trick unless you’re one of those lucky ones. The challenge is to keep your scripts out of the slush pile.
You may have the best material in the world. However, there are hundreds, if not thousands of others just like you with the best material in the world. How are they getting an edge?
THE PERSONAL TOUCH
You’ve chosen to be a writer. That’s your passion, your calling. It would behoove you to at least learn something about the inner workings of the industry. Not just from reading a bunch of books, but hearing from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. At a conference, you get to intermingle with industry professionals. That’s right. You wander about, attend classes taught by, enjoy meals with, congregate in the hallways, just sit and chat with publishers, agents, editors, screenplay experts, marketers and other published and non- published writers. There’s no better way to learn your craft than to get that personal one-on-one with the people who make it happen. Not only do you get that personal touch, but you get to see the faces, learn their names and they learn yours. They can put a face to your name.
PITCHING IS LIKE AN INFORMAL JOB INTERVIEW
At the conference, you’ll have a chance to pitch your material if there’s an agent or publisher that accepts your work. If you come prepared, you’ll be able to sit down and present your manuscript in a relaxed setting. In a way, it’s like a job interview except in this case, not only is the agent interviewing you as well as your material, you’re interviewing them. The goal is to see if you can work with each other. By the time you’ve come to this point, you most likely already met and talked a bit. This interview is just a formality. In fact, sometimes during the course of casual conversation, the agent or publisher may ask you to pitch your stuff in the hallway or after a meal, forgoing the formal pitch session. It has happened. It all depends on the agent/publisher.
SESSIONS
Since this is a conference, the bulk of the time is dedicated to the seminars (or classes). They run continuous from Thursday afternoon through Saturday afternoon. Each class covers a specific subject and they’re conducted by experts in that particular field. Some of the instructors may be the very agents and publishers to whom you want to pitch, while others are present for their expertise.
There’s so much to learn about the craft, such as marketing, editing, social media, screenwriting: anything to do with the craft and industry of writing.
SUMMARY
The Las Vegas Writer’s Conference is held annually every April at the Sam’s Town Casino. I’ve been an active member of the Henderson Writer’s Group since 2005 and our big event for the year is the conference. Therefore, I’ve made it a point to attend every conference since joining. Besides having my own work critiqued by the group and critiquing others work, I’ve helped others by editing their material and passing on what I’ve learned at each event for those that have not been able to attend. I’ve truly learned so much, and love being a part of not only the writer’s group, but attending each conference as well.
As a long-time writer, this is my passion, my calling, something I have to do. It’s more than a hobby, besides being a professional technical writer for over a decade. I highly recommend that everyone with an interest in writing or getting published, even if you’re thinking of self-publishing, should attend at least one writer’s conference. It’ll open your eyes. You’ll learn a plethora of helpful information that’ll inspire you to write more. You’ll have the knowledge and understanding of the process that a writer goes through to get manuscripts published. You’ll even gain new ideas to help push yourself to the next level.
The Las Vegas Writer’s Conference is one of the best in the nation, hands-down. It’s not anywhere near the largest, and for good reason. It’s kept small, limited in size to keep everything accessible, from the classes to the agents and publishers. There are no long lines and no huge crowds to wade through. It’s a relaxed great time to rub elbows with industry experts and learn your craft. Take advantage of it while you can! For more information go to www.lasvegaswritersconference.com
EASIER THE MORE YOU DO IT
For many people, writing is the bane of their existence. To write something other than a note to a friend, a quick instruction for someone (or yourself) to do something is almost impossible. Writing is akin to public speaking. Though there’s no abject fear of standing up in front of a group of people and talking, it’s replaced with a huge mental block in having to organize your thoughts and convey them to paper (or in this case) electrons.
THE DREADED SCHOOL ESSAY
How many of you dreaded when Teacher told the class it was time to do an essay? Didn’t you just dread it? Did you become paralyzed by the fact that you had to lay down more than a few sentences? Besides organizing your thoughts, you had to pick from a narrow line of subjects (if Teacher specify one). Then you had to do that dreaded research. What’s more, you’d have to read-read-read, take notes (which meant even more writing), then make sense of what you just wrote. From that mess, you’d have to organize it all into an intelligible essay.
When you consider all of that effort and the threat of a bad grade, is it any wonder that most kids grow up with an attitude about writing? Those rare few of us that actually love doing that may not even grow up to be writers. At first, I was not one of them. I hated writing for a long time. I dreaded it for decades.
LEARNING TO WRITE BY THE “NAZI” METHOD
Outside of my feeble attempt at a half-page Star Trek satire, typed on a manual typewriter, I never wrote more than letters home until I was forced to learn to write by the Nazi method. My Air Force boss forced the issue when I became a leader. At that time, I had to, because as a supervisor, I had to do performance reports, and they had to be well-written because what they said affected the careers of that individual, good or bad. My boss wasn’t going to let me get away with any crap, and truth be told, I wanted to do it right. Being a meticulous person, I spent quite a few nights getting home late and freaking out my wife who had no way of getting hold of me. We lived in Spain at the time and had no phone. If I didn’t get home at the regular hour, she figured we either lost a tool at work, had a base exercise, or I had a car wreck. This was the early 80’s before cell phones. My boss was going to make sure I learned some decent grammar and syntax, whether it scared the crap out of the wife, or not.
Funny thing about that forced method. I soon had to apply it to other reports, which as my responsibilities grew, became more common. Then college courses happened and if you’ve ever done any classes, you know how common essays are! Before I knew it, I was writing all the time. However, it didn’t become second nature until almost a decade later in the mid-nineties.
THE MUSE FINALLY HITS
I was getting close to my Air Force retirement when my muse finally found me. I recalled that crappy attempt at the Star Trek satire. My wife and I had made our many attempts at the music business and that didn’t work out. I needed an artistic outlet. After reading many novels, especially by Clive Cussler, Bob Mayer (as Robert Doherty at the time), Elizabeth Forrest and Carol Davis Luce, I had enough inspiration to try fiction again. Before I knew it, my first novel sat completed on my printer. The Cave is a science fiction story that will never see the light of day. However, it’s a completed novel. I went from a half page in the seventies to a completed novel in 1995 in a few months! I’m not sure if I found my muse or it found me.
My next project, a much more serious effort was The Greenhouse, my first icky bug. That novel I’m still shopping around, decades later. My chops were better and it flowed out easier. From there I shifted genres once again into action/adventure (now called adventure/thriller) with my Gold series.
In the meantime, since I found my muse, I popped out one short story after another and have amassed dozens of them. So far, my publication success is in that camp. I wish it were novels, but I am very happy to have many short stories in print.
In the meantime, as I retired and shifted jobs, I became a technical writer and trainer. I wrote 220 maintenance manuals in a rubber extrusion factory. Then I had a few years break at two different maintenance planner positions where I still had to write all the time but mostly reports and letters. Then, in 2002, I became a technical writer again and did that for nine years. I wrote professionally for almost a decade and wrote for fun as well.
PRACTICE MAKES EASY
The point is that I write a lot. I don’t dread sitting down and popping something out. In fact, this article came to my head a few minutes ago, literally. It’s that easy for me. I’ve been doing this for a while. I don’t agonize over it. It could be this way for you too if you practice. It takes a while but it’s worth it.
It gets easier the more you do it. All it takes is a nugget of an idea, then go for it. It really does work!
Happy writing.
DEALING WITH CRITICISM
What happens to you as a writer, when you pour your heart and soul into your work, only to have someone of literary importance trash it with either a downright nasty barrage of comments or some offhand snide remark that cuts to the bone? How many of you have had that happen? I’ll hereby raise my hand. “Ooh ooh teacher! You can count me in!”
Yeah, folks, when you consider my 600+ rejection status, I didn’t get a lack of response to all of them. Though the majority were either no response, a polite no thank you, or the return of an obviously unread manuscript, I lucked out in two out of one hundred times by receiving actual feedback. Fifty percent of said feedback was good. The other half would make someone that didn’t have their heart and soul dedicated to this passion quit and find another passion. I think those really nasty ones, in at least a couple of cases, were meant to toughen me up, to tell it like it is, or to jolt me in their twisted way into changing my work into what they thought would be a best seller.
Then there were the others that were just plain thoughtless and rude. They were made by people that had no filter, no idea of what it was like to be diplomatic, or how to use tact.
GET READY
If you haven’t dealt with it yet, be prepared. If you’re just starting out as a writer, one way or the other, someone is eventually going to look at your stuff. They’re going to give you feedback. You have to start from somewhere. The way they tell you what’s wrong is going to vary. You have to be ready for anything.
DEVELOP A THICK SKIN
To succeed and become a better writer, you have to learn! That means you aren’t going to be a perfect writer right out of the gate. I don’t care how much learnin’ you’ve had or think you’ve had at school, college or from that random writing course or seminar. Maybe you’ve had no training at all. In the real world, there’s a big difference from a classroom to getting published. Of course, it’s a bigger curve if you’ve had no training at all, but either way, someone is going to tell you you’re doing something wrong. It’s all part of the process.
I came from the technical writing world, and trust me, it’s a different world from not only fiction, but from non-fiction! Technical writing is not selling writing for commercial applications, at least not in the same sense. Even there, someone looks over your shoulder and provides a second set of eyes.
That all leads back to you having to deal with at least one and hopefully lots of other people that are going to guide you, criticize you in a (hopefully) positive way.
IT DOESN’T STOP THERE
You’ve won the lotto and all your talent and luck got you that deal and now you have a book on the shelves. Too late to take it back now. The book is out there for whole world and now a different and undisciplined group of people have you at their mercy. If you think you had it bad before, think again.
There are the book critics, paid to either slam you or make you look good. Then there are the independents that can go either way. However, the biggest and most varied group will be the readers. Every web site that sells books also has a place available to leave customer feedback. This is where the knives can really go deep.
Are you ready for the really nasty stuff? The worst and nastiest, most unfiltered mean jabs come from customers. They can tear down any confidence you thought you had if you aren’t prepared.
Remember, you made it this far. Those idiots slamming you have done nothing except spew out poison because they can. Do they have a point? Maybe. Even if they do, you can’t let it get you down, because there should be plenty of others that loved your stuff. If not, maybe it just wasn’t the right time for your story or enough people are not seeing it. Maybe you need to adjust your marketing.
DON’T TAKE IT PERSONAL
The point is, it doesn’t matter if it’s experts or readers. Don’t take criticism personal, whether it’s intended to be or not. You have to develop a tough skin to be able to survive in this passion. If you have any hope of continuing with writing, it’s all part of the game. You can’t be the sensitive artiste and expect to survive. The idea is to cut through the crap and look at the big picture. Forget the personal jabs, the lack of tact and get to the bare facts. Does what they say have any merit or are they just blowing smoke? Do others say the same thing but in a nicer way, or is this slug the only one? If there’s a consensus, maybe it’s something you have to look at. If you’re in the early stages of writing, you can change it. If the book is already published, think about the next one.
Harsh words should bounce off like the empty thoughts they are, because they can’t harm you, unless you let them. Where have we all heard that before?
Happy writing.
ENDLESS EXPOSITION – CHARACTER STUDIES
A few articles ago, I mentioned a book I’d just read full of endless exposition. I finished another one week before last. This was supposed to be a horror (icky bug) novel about a rock band. However, it turned out to be nothing more than a murder mystery that was little more than an excuse for a super-long (almost six-hundred page) character study, with little action.
From the so far, mixed reviews of the paperback, most readers loved it because it closely followed the writer’s previous work. These were obviously fans because the author closely resembles Stephen King in style. I, on the other hand found it to be the story that would never end.
When I stumbled across the hardback version, I found a mixed bag of reviews, with some of his fans hating this book as “not the old author anymore” and similar comments, along with a mix of gushing “love it” five star ratings.
CHARACTER STUDY
There’s a style out there called the character study, which I think fits solidly in the literary vein, where action is shoved aside in favor of character development. What little story there is only presents a foundation, or an excuse to go off on any one of the different character’s thoughts on their past, present or future. This, to me, is a whole lot of nothing. However, it’s extremely popular, even though the author barely gets to the point. I think it’s more a function of the book being misrepresented as genre fiction.
Take Under The Dome. This tome was over a thousand pages yet a huge portion of it was characters, and not action. I’m saying this anecdotally because I never even came close to reading it, knowing Mr. King’s style. I know other people (trustworthy sources) that slogged through it and get the info second hand.
I can’t take all that endless exposition into the characters thoughts and feelings for chapter after chapter when a paragraph or two will do. How about getting to the point? Yet despite that, it’s still considered genre fiction. Icky bug, of all things.
IN THE MINORITY
I am, of course, in the minority because these authors have thousands upon thousands of fans. My review of the tome in question was due not only to a six hundred page story that should’ve been one hundred and fifty pages, but the author head hopped. He also put the bad guy in present-tense only to switch back and forth willy-nilly to past-tense for no rhyme or reason.
I thought I would get some hate mail as more reviews came in, but so far, I’ve only received one 0 out of 1 helpful review on Amazon. After looking at the less than favorable reviews in the hardback section, the author tends to polarize a lot of people.
My point is that the story was the book that would never end. It droned on and on and on. Very little happened and when it did, it was just another excuse to go off on one of the characters thoughts for another ten pages. It’s a style that’s popular, so as writers, I can’t suggest you don’t do it, but on the other hand, what’s wrong with a story moving or getting to the point? If you’re into literature, this is probably the style for you. However, if you’re into any type of genre writing, I’d avoid this style.
What do you think your chances are of a manuscript or a sample of your story getting by an agent if their eyes glaze over trying to get through a few paragraphs? My guess is that they won’t get very far or never would’ve with either of these authors if they were starting off today because they couldn’t get away with what they do now if they were starting out. Even King admits that now. He’s well established so he can pretty much write the phone book and get away with it.
We, as new authors have to entertain our readers in a far more quick-and-dirty way. That means:
GET TO THE POINT
You can say the exact same things they do in one or two paragraphs instead of ten or twenty pages. Then you have plenty of real estate left for action and movement.
Happy writing!
WHY I LIKE AND DON’T LIKE WHAT I DO
I often get asked why I despise first-person in fiction, or can’t stand present-tense in just about anything. Well, truth be told, I don’t despise first-person in fiction, though I don’t like it. I can tolerate it under special circumstances. However, I will say I do despise present-tense under any circumstances that I can think of, as I write this. I can’t stand things like head-hopping, sentences that start with But and And, the phrases started to and began to. I also can’t stand to see liberal, if any use of colons and semi-colons in fiction. Back to POV, the combination of first-person present-tense is unreadable to me as well as second-person.
HOW DID I GET TO WHERE I AM?
How did I become this way? Why do these things bother me so much? Before I became smarter, a more skilled writer and an editor, there were always things about certain books that bugged me. Some books that were wildly popular I just couldn’t get into. Why? What was wrong with them? When the movie came out, I loved them, yet when I went back to read the book, I couldn’t get through the first chapter, and sometimes even the first paragraph. There was something about the writing that didn’t sit well with me, but I didn’t have the skills to figure out what was wrong.
SKILLS COME WITH TIME
I honed my chops as a writer, and part of that involved the editing process. My skills grew, and with that, I not only became involved in writer’s groups, but I took on helping others. I started my editing “career.” It really began long before that, when I was in the military. That’s where I really learned to write, mainly on the technical side. Since I was a supervisor, I had to edit all kinds of written material including performance reports. My skills grew in leaps and bounds.
AHA!
As my writing and editing chops grew, I found what I was most comfortable with in fiction. Third-person, past tense. This point of view provided me with the broadest and most solid palette. I went back to some of the classic novels I was “supposed” to love to see what was wrong with them. I had a huge epiphany. It wasn’t just something vague about the writing, it was specific styles these authors used that made the stories unreadable to me, no matter how great the actual stories were when converted to film. Two examples are Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea and War Of The Worlds. They’re great classics, but both written in first-person. Looking at them now, I can’t get through the first few pages. Lord Of The Rings? Awful! Though it’s third-person, it’s omniscient, very flat and impersonal. That’s a huge reason why I could never get through more than a page of The Hobbit, yet I loved the movies.
I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE
I’ve done unofficial polls of non-writers just out of curiosity. I’ve asked young and old readers which books they’ve liked, which authors they’ve liked and disliked and why. Many of them can’t tell any difference between styles while others have certain authors and styles they’re not quite comfortable with, but they can’t tell me why. “Just something about them.”
Sometimes it has to do with the story itself or the way the author draws the characters or the author’s voice. However, sometimes the reader loves the story but isn’t comfortable with the writing. Those are the opinions I’m interested in and to which I’m talking about here.
Once in a while, it’s first-person. However, most of the time it’s present-tense. So far, my poll has never found anyone uncomfortable with third-person. I’ve never polled anyone who’s read a second-person book as they’re extremely rare. However, I’ve polled a few people who’ve read poorly written and poorly edited books. I won’t name names but they’re nobody I know personally! I will say that these authors are both nationally and self-published, which may surprise some of you, but doesn’t surprise me at all.
I’M THERE BECAUSE I HAVE THE SKILLS TO KNOW BETTER
People say I’m limiting myself and am missing out on some great stories. I don’t see it that way. I know what I like and I’ve had a lot of time and learning to figure it out. I save myself tons of money that way.
If the author puts up a barrier with crappy writing, or difficult style, I don’t care how great the story is. I’d rather wait for the movie.
Happy writing!
THE DREADED MARKETING
THE FUN PART
The fun part of any writer’s life is creating and writing. That’s kind of the whole point of our existence. That’s why we’re here in the first place. To write, create stories, whether real or not. Given skills, talent and persistence, we have that one in the bag.
Say you, the writer get lucky, strike a deal with a publisher, get your tome published then find out all they’re going to do is print the book. That’s it. Maybe they’ll distribute it throughout the book chain (singular), maybe not. Nobody notices.
WHAT NOW?
They (the publisher) tell you the book isn’t selling. Why aren’t you promoting it?
“Me? Why me? I thought you were supposed to do that?”
“Nuh huh. We just print it. It’s up to you to sell it.”
REALITY SETS IN
Not literally the way it goes (maybe it actually does in some cases), but an illustration of what a lot of authors get slapped with when they realize that most publishers do very little to promote books, especially from new authors. They usually make it quite clear up front that it’s up to the author to market the books. Many publishers and agents ask the author beforehand how they plan to market their book.
Yes my friends, this is the ugly side of writing. As much as you enjoy the writing process, now it comes down to the dirty work. If you can find someone to publish it, they basically throw it right back to you to sell it!
Can you see yourself standing on a street corner, holding a front-to-back sign over your shoulders, hawking your novel? Can you see yourself tirelessly passing out cards as you pass everyone along the sidewalk, sending e-mails to every library in the country, asking them to buy your book?
Get ready, because eventually, you’re going to have to figure out some way to publicize and market your book, because nobody else will do it.
And you thought all you had to do was write!
MARKETING – THE UGLY TRUTH
Most of us are not natural salesmen or saleswomen. It takes a certain type of person to be able to do that. I know I’m not, but I’m going to have to suck it up and figure a way to market my books, just like everyone else. I’m more than happy to do book signings, speak at events, do interviews, post on sites like Facebook. However, travel is not much of an option since I still work full-time.
OPTIONS
BOOK SIGNINGS: You need to try a few. They often don’t result in many sales, if at all, but it’s still worth a try at least a few times. Pick and choose. If you can gain a fan or two, they could be for life. If you do one, don’t be a wallflower, be active and let people know you’re there without being obnoxious. Also, do it in a group and not by yourself unless your book is doing really well.
PUBLIC SPEAKING: For some, public speaking is a paralyzing psychosis, yet it’s time to get over it! Speaking at events is a great way to publicize your book. Speaking on writing, and having copies of your book there are a great way to sell a few, even if the book has nothing to do with the subject. For non-fiction, it’s especially great if that’s your platform. If not, your subject could be something on writing and you could mention how you use that subject in your writing style and mention the book, which you have for sale in the back.
INTERVIEWS: Find out who in town does interviews of local interest and try to get booked. Mention your book and where it’s available. Mention your web site, etc.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Use Facebook or whatever other social media you use, like Twitter. Monitor and post frequently, but not to annoy people. I don’t use Twitter. Maybe I should, but I keep plenty busy with other social media and figure that’s enough, at least for now. Maybe someday.
WEB SITE: Keep your web site updated! Don’t set up a web site and forget about it. I know so many authors do this, and their web site and forum haven’t been updated in five years, yet they’ve had four more books come out since.
These are all things you can do with a regular job and still not have to travel a lot. If your books take off, you may have the spare change to travel to other cities and do more. Who knows?
Happy writing!
A SPECIAL REVIEW
This is the first time on The Worlds Of Fred Rayworth that I’ve done a book review. I’ve done plenty on Amazon, but never one here, because frankly, this site is about the writing process. In this case, I’m making an exception because the book I’m reviewing was part of a process I was deeply involved in.
A few years ago, when I had lots more time, I used to edit work by friends and other authors. Usually, all it took was for them to ask and if I had the time, I was more than glad to do it. However, I would still turn down some manuscripts if the material was too far out for me, or the writing style was something I couldn’t stand to read.
I’ve known Morgan St. James for a long time. As a long-standing member of the Henderson Writer’s Group, we’ve talked extensively about almost every aspect of writing. In fact, she’s one of the key figures that convinced me to stick with one name instead of branching out with several pen names, since I write in multiple genres.
IT ALL STARTS SOMEWHERE
Morgan approached me to do an edit on her story which now has the title Betrayed. I can’t remember the original title or even the original name of the main character. I readily agreed to help her, sight-unseen, because I really like her and even though I had several other projects on my plate, I love editing, and looked forward to taking on the task. To tell the truth, I felt honored she asked me.
NOT WHAT I EXPECTED
To my initial horror, I discovered the main character was in first-person! Aaagh! It’s not that I haven’t either read books in first-person, or edited them. I was just hoping it would be third-person since it was kind of a thriller. Oh well. I soldiered on and started the process.
Lo and behold, as I progressed through the story, despite my aversion to the tunnel vision of first-person, I found myself becoming absorbed in her vision, her character. Turns out, she uses mixed POV where the secondary characters were told in third-person. To my surprise, this actually worked. For a story that I never would’ve picked up otherwise, I found myself enjoying it.
A FEW YEARS PASS
Jump ahead a few years, to two months ago. Morgan regained the publishing rights to the novel, upgraded it and did some rewrites. She asked me to do a fresh review. I insisted on re-reading it beforehand so I could do a more accurate and updated review. I got to re-live the updated story and though I’m still no fan of first-person, I became reabsorbed with the character of Laurie and the whole story. In edit mode, even though she didn’t ask for it, I helped out by finding a few nits here and there. I hope it all helps her present this outstanding story to you, the reader.
Below is my latest review, which is honest and heart-felt. Some of you may think it’s biased, and sure, maybe it is a little, but only because I own it. I know this story intimately and if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t put it out there. I would’ve politely declined. Believe me, I have before!
It’s highly unlikely I’ll ever read first-person in fiction willingly, but with this exception, I found a gem that will surely make its mark.
REVIEW
When I was one of several who first edited this story several years ago in its first incarnation, I wasn’t sure I could get into the story. With it being part romance and mostly in first-person, which I don’t personally like in fiction, it wasn’t my usual cup of tea. However, the further I read, the more engrossed I became. This wasn’t just some sappy love story. The title is true to the story. It’s about betrayal in the most profound way. In this second incarnation, it’s greatly improved and updated.
The hero goes from a high to a despairing low, only to drag herself out of it, and then gets knocked off her feet again. It’s amazing how she survives this punishment, yet she does. The author not only makes it interesting, but gets the reader to feel every bit of it. She’s a master at drawing emotion out of every scene, from the lightest to darkest moments.
The plotting is fast-paced and there’s no endless narration and exposition. In the third-person sections, there’s no head-hopping and the transitions are smooth. It’s very well written.
This story is especially geared toward women, but with the mystery and mayhem, it should appeal to many males as well. Highly recommended.
REFERENCES
Here are some of the various links that pertain to the book:
Facebook fan page: http://on.fb.me/1bkIokT
Blog: http://bit.ly/1aoz5Fz
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1br7XC0
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1hGAqdR
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1kpYA9s
FORMATTING
It never fails to surprise me how many writers out there never think of the consequences of why they put down what they do on their electronic media, whichever word processor they use. I can’t vouch for the few of you that still might use an actual typewriter or write by hand, but most, especially if you’re reading this, are using some kind of computer software program to record your musings.
I’ve seen it all, from plain flat Courier font to some of the most god-awful frilly flowery mish-mashes of formatting hell. Maybe writers love to look at their work and think agents and publishers will be impressed with their Word or Works or whatever word processing skills. Nothing could be further from the truth!
SUBMISSION FORMATTING RULES
Most, if not all submissions will require certain formatting rules. If the requested material is to be in print form, there’s a lot of leeway on getting the recipient an acceptable print copy. If they request it in electronic format, there are certain guidelines that are usually more rigid, but may also seem deceptively easy.
In other words, watch out! As an example, see below:
STRIP STRIP STRIP!
If… you ever want to get your masterpiece electronically published in any of the acceptable formats, be prepared to run a formatting obstacle course! One of the first things anyone knowledgeable is going to do is strip ALL the formatting out of your document. If you weren’t aware, there are literally tens if not hundreds of possible formatting “thingies” that could screw up a Kindle, Nook, or other e-book. Trust me! Thousands of self-published authors have found that out the hard way, especially when the author didn’t properly format the book by doing it themselves, or got an inexperienced “expert” to do it for them. The result was an almost indecipherable mess that the public took to the reviews to slam.
Your masterpiece of literature now has plenty of one and two star reviews that have nothing to do with the story, but instead have to do with pages that are blank, paragraphs that end abruptly in the middle of a sentence, words with capital letters in the middle, partially italicized or bolded words, foreign fonts, different sized fonts, etc.
Here’s a trick for you, especially if you use Word. In your toolbar up top, if it’s not visible, look for the Show Paragraph Marks tool. It looks like this:
Turn it on. You’d be surprised what it shows you. There’s a dot between each word to indicate spaces. Guess what? If there are two dots, when the formatting takes place, you’re going to have an uneven gap between those two words, even if it’s justified. Ever seen a degree symbol that’s invisible between words with this Show Paragraph Marks tool off? That’s a spacer that’s a remnant from other programs like Apple, etc. In Word, it’s not a degree symbol, and though it’s invisible, it can cause all kinds of grief if left in there instead of replacing it with a regular space. This “magic” Show Paragraph Marks button reveals tab marks, shift returns, headers, double spaces after periods before paragraph markers, and many formatting marks which you otherwise would never know were there. All of this stuff can seriously affect the formatting of your e-document.
I keep mine on all the time, though a lot of writers don’t like the clutter. I find it always lets me know where I stand. I especially like it because I often import stuff from other word processing files into our Observer’s Challenge from Apple and other foreign word processors. Let me tell you, I see all kinds of weird symbols, even if I use the Paste Unformatted Text Only function. It doesn’t always work as advertised.
KEEP IT SIMPLE AND CLEAN
You should always write in the most simple and clean style and keep out fancy formatting. You’ll likely regret it later, unless you’re doing something that will not be sent in for e-publishing. I use my own formatting sometimes for these web articles and for the Observer’s Challenge.
Food for thought that will hopefully save you a lot of grief down the road.
Happy writing!
The Worlds Of Fred Rayworth 