Release Day! MAKING STORY: TWENTY-ONE WRITERS ON HOW THEY PLOT

 

It's release day for MAKING STORY! This collection of essays from twenty-one writers on how we plot is the first in a series of writing books that will address all sorts of writing topics. Collectively, these books will be known as the Twenty-one Writers Project. Our first installment addresses plotting methods. Some writers are outliners. (I envy them.) Others are "pantsers," who write by the seat of their pants. (I envy them too.) Some, like me, fall messily in the middle.

 

Our range of approaches are shared candidly in this collection, compiled and edited by Edgar- and Macavity- nominated thriller author, Timothy Hallinan.

 

I'm so excited to be part of this, and I hope that those of you who enjoy writing will check out the new book.

 

 



I turned in the book!

It's a gut-twisty feeling. This must be what a guy feels like right after he asks his girlfriend to marry him. There is the thought, "This could be the best day ever!" but it's mixed with "Pleasepleaseplease don't reject me and make me cry like a little girl."

There is happiness with a finished draft. There is anxiety about the impending revision letter. Like last time I'll post any non-plot-spoiling editorial comments here on the blog to help demystify the publication process for those of you who are headed down this road.

One funny thing. It's been so long since I've turned in Dead Lift that I couldn't remember my own pre-submission checklist items. I had to look them up in the blog archives.  While looking, I rediscovered Ode to Revisions from back in 2010. Apparently, I'd blocked it from memory.

A coincidence, or perhaps not, is that both Ode to Revisions (2010), which I have no recollection of writing, and Ode to First Draft (2012), which I do, include the phrase "wear me down" in the first two lines. Apparently this is a running theme with me.

Maybe revisions kill more brain cells than alcohol.

Thinking about new writers

Yesterday I attended the monthly local meeting of Mystery Writers of America. Without fully understanding how it happened, I'm now serving as the chapter's vice president. This is an honor, but what scares me about it is knowing that I was recommended for this position because others believed I could infuse "new energy."

You know how it goes. Complain enough and somebody eventually says, "Well, if you think you can do better, we invite you to try."

MWA is a fabulous organization, but the complaints I allude to have to do with my outspoken opinion that the organization doesn't do enough to mentor its pre-published members.

So yesterday, I voiced some of my ideas to improve that. And today it occurs to me that I may be able to do something similar here at the blog.

One fortuitous side-effect of writing has been meeting other authors. What a cool bunch of people writers are. This morning I am wondering if the readers of this blog would be interested in posing a few questions to "authors at large." I could collect feedback from some of my author friends and post it here, and that would give you an opportunity for a little insight into their writing lives and their challenges in publishing.

Any interest? If so, please post your questions in the comments. I'll collect them and return with some professional feedback to share.

“Hey Rachel, how’s the book doing?”

People are often surprised to hear that I don’t know.

This post falls under my “demystification” heading and is meant for those of you interested in what happens on the business end of a book contract. Keep in mind that I’m an “n of 1,” as we in scientific fields say. Others will have different experiences, and that’s why it’s important to visit other writing/publishing blogs and make lots of writer-type friends to learn more about how stuff works.

Some background:

Final Approach came out eight months ago. My contract says that every April I’ll receive a royalty statement for sales in the previous calendar year. That’s fine, except it left this newbie with a few anxiety-filled questions for eight long months while I waited for April to roll around:

1. Is my publisher losing money on me? I’ve said before that one of my biggest worries has been letting down the folks who took a chance on me. A publisher invests money in its authors. There is always a bit of stress on my end wondering if that risk paid off. I’d hate to disappoint my publisher, and I’d really, really hate to cost them money.
2. Did the ads work? Last fall I dropped a lot of cash on print ads in skydiving magazines, hoping to reach readers in that niche. A royalty statement that blankets sales for the whole previous year doesn’t indicate which months did better than others. So there was no way for me to know if this method of promotion should be abandoned or repeated.
3. What about bookstore and library events? How about on-line promotion? Was there a sales spike during weeks I guest blogged, or during the months I did more in-person events? No telling.
4. “How many copies have sold?” Your guess is as good as mine.

The statement came last week and some of these were answered. I was relieved that I sold through my advance, which I’m guessing means that my publisher did not lose money on the book. Since the statement reported total sales, there wasn’t an indication which months sold better than others, but my publisher is changing that this year and will mail statements more frequently. That means authors will have a better idea about which of our promotional efforts are working. Good news, all around.

Mainly, I was excited to see that more copies of Final Approach sold than the number of people I know on the planet. That means that my neighbors and mailman aren’t the only ones picking up the book.

For those who may wonder, I still spend way more money on writing than I bring in. The bulk of what I spend goes toward conference travel, the rest goes toward promotion. I’d go to writers’ conferences even if I didn’t have a book out; those things are just plain fun. So I don’t view that as a loss. But I’m sharing this here to reiterate what you probably already know: writing probably won’t make you rich. The rewards, for me at least, are the intangibles: time spent in my imagination, watching a new story unfold, and the feeling of accomplishment when I finally get to type THE END.

Switching gears now, I have a Book 3 update: I finally started it.

To keep myself honest, I’ve added a progress bar over there on the left. If you see it sit in the same place too long, consider this your license to open a can of whoop-ass on me. With the help of a friend, I’ve devised a humiliating punishment for any weeks I may miss my word count goal, and this will be unveiled on my April 30^th Stiletto Gang post.

Gotta keep things fun.

What's in a revision letter, anyway?

The revision letter came, and I promised I'd share. In the interests of demystifying the process, here it is with as much detail as possible. At the end of the letter I'll add a few closing remarks . . . one potentially helpful to fellow writers, the other just plain funny for anyone. Here we go!

Dear Rachel,

I hope this finds you well. Happy new year.

I finished the MS of Dead Lift. Much improvement in some areas we discussed, especially Jeannie and her interaction. And less of the old story.

I will write to you fully when I get back end of the month, but some points to consider are:

Emily working for [character omitted] – is there a satisfactory wrap up to this issue, ie her dislike and the role Richard has put her into…. Maybe she needs to consider more the ramifications of a new job and thus how to execute it (doing stuff she doesn’t like). I do think you do a good job with the mix of [character names omitted], it’s a poignant position for all.

The cell phone deal, Richard not replacing hers, its unreliability. I see why you need it disabled for the plot mechanics, but a new cell would be so easy and so cheap to pick up, this isn’t very credible. What real reason can you give when say Jeannie is flinging money around on clothes etc and Emily at the spa while snooping why Emily doesn’t just buy a new one? Why must it be a phone purchased for her by Richard and why is she willing to leave herself vulnerable and unable to do her job well by waiting on him?

[Character]. Is it believable she is so criminally careless with [details omitted]?

The largest problem has to do with [character names omitted]. First, if [this guy's] mom was 90, then how old is [this guy]? Mom left two sisters and a brother in law who are still alive albeit elderly. So where are they in this picture? Is [this guy] an only child?

[Unfortunately, I'm cutting a huge part here in the middle because it has to do with the Whodunnit portion of the novel, sorry.]

Further, I see no way [character] would have [done that]. And anyone who went into the house would discover as easily as did Emily what [bad guy] is up to.

One way you could deal with this – you perhaps should get legal advice about [character's situation] – would be to [editor suggests a plot alternative here].

You should try to talk to [professionals in the field, basically do some more research] and think this through. It’s a good plot idea but simply can’t work the way you have set it up.

When we get back I’ll send the MS to you with my usual scribbles and they may reveal a few other points but this is the big one.

This is a relatively short novel so you have room to expand without damaging the pace as long as you weave it in with dialogue etc and don’t drop in facts. Might be fun to embroider on the plight of people like [character].

You have already realized that your audience for this is going to be mostly women via the spa setting, which is fine. But it’s a bit different than the appeal of Final Approach, and a landscape of interest to men, ie sky diving. No criticism, just reiterating. It probably fits well with the central trope of Emily, Annette, and building some kind of family.

Vince progresses nicely and as said, Jeannie is great!

Cheers,

TEE

When I received my first revision letter for Final Approach, I wondered what "TEE" meant, because those are not her initials. I was afraid to ask. Eventually, another author at the press clued me in: The Evil Editor. But the truth is, she's not evil at all. In fact, "I luv my Editer." :-)

Cell phones, on the other hand, are the devil to mystery writers. Or at least to this one. That bit about the phone up there says it all. To put characters in true peril, we take away their lifelines and force them to be resourceful. But today phones are so fast and easy to replace. I shake my fist (and my red editing pen) at cell phones.

As promised, here is a helpful article by Jennifer Hubbard about dealing with revision letters. I was lucky to read this before Final Approach sold and still approach the revision process the same way.

And finally, an oldie but a goodie. This is kinda how it feels to be me today. Enjoy!

Thomas Christenson's hilarious publishing glossary

Need a chuckle? There's truth in humor.

And by "sales" you mean what, exactly?

Backspace Writers has a long-but-worth-it post today that explains why it's so hard to tell how a book is doing. Here's Noah Lukeman's take on how to gauge a successful book.

What happens to my manuscript after it's sold?

Ever wonder about that? I did. This post at Redlines and Deadlines gives a succinct account of what you might expect after signing a contract. Individual experiences may differ, of course, but the process described here is almost exactly how it went for me. I like heads-up articles like this because one thing I've noticed about publishing is that it's a good idea to look a step ahead of where we are.