Anna's Blog
Twilight of Avalon Book Trailer
December 9th, 2009Or view it at YouTube:
Twilight of Avalon Book Trailer
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Trystan
December 6th, 2009Awhile back I saw a website that let authors cast actors in (obviously imaginary) movie versions of their books. I can’t for the life of me find the site again–which is probably a good thing. I’m sure I could fritter away waaaaay too much time there. But I mention it because I just discovered the TV show White Collar (we don’t actually have a TV, so I’m limited to shows I can watch online) and realized that the actor who plays Neil on the show is very close to the way I picture Trystan. Here:
He’s not exactly Trystan, of course, but close. Especially the eyes. In the (really unlikely) event that a movie version of Twilight of Avalon is ever made I would allow him to be cast as Trystan.
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Cover Art
December 3rd, 2009I just got the cover for the Portuguese version of Twilight of Avalon. I had absolutely nothing to do with it–for the most part authors don’t have a voice in the foreign edition covers of their books–but isn’t it pretty? Another Waterhouse painting and such a lovely one.
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A Holiday Contest
November 27th, 2009Happy Thanksgiving! I’m over at Writer Unboxed today talking about a special holiday contest for this month. Stop by!
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Why I (re)Write
November 22nd, 2009Junot Diaz had such an amazingly inspiring article on Becoming a Writer the other day. My favorite quote:
. . . in my view a writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway.
Reading that, I was reminded of another of my favorite quotes on writing, this one from Ernest Hemingway: “And then I remember, it was always this hard.”
These are the kind of quotes I read often when, as now, I’m deep in drafting country. And does it help? It does. Does it keep me from periodically wanting to smack my head against the keyboard a la Rolf the dog in the Muppets? Hmm, yeah, not so much.
The thing is, writing a first draft is really, really hard, because inevitably–at least for me–that first draft is depressingly awful. So I rewrite. And rewrite. Which is hard work, but I like it, I really do. But then somewhere about the fifth rewrite I reach a draft that is . . . not bad. It’s not great, mind you, but neither would I die of embarrassment if someone else were to read it. It’s kind of mediocre, but it gets the job done. And that’s when the Rolf the dog impulse really sets in. Because I can see that the draft just isn’t there yet, but I don’t know what’s wrong or how to fix it. And I’m beginning to get so sick of it that I would rather eat slugs, pretty much, that go over it all yet again.
So what do I do? Here’s something else I look at a lot when I’m in the middle of drafting:
If I accept that mediocre draft as final, I’m teaching my girls that compromising your innermost self is okay. That when a job gets hard it’s okay to demand less of yourself than your best work. That cannot happen. Cannot. My amazing girls deserve better than that.
5 drafts down, 495 to go.
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Aspiring Writer Q and A part two
November 13th, 2009The road to publication is a long and bumpy one. Sure, there are those instant success stories, but for the most part every author out there has had their own personally roller coaster ride of a journey towards finally, finally signing that first, miraculous book contract. I certainly had mine. And–though I don’t at all mean to be discouraging–I think the whole challenge of getting published is an especially complex one in these crazy economic times.
Last month, my lovely writing buddy Sarah dropped by to share her background and answer questions for the aspiring writers out there. And now she’s back! This time she’s answering a two part question: Where has the road to publication taken you so far? And how have you kept your sanity?
Hi everyone! Anna has so kindly asked me to blog again, with the two-part topic of a) where are you on the path to publication? and b) how do you keep your sanity?
This week could have been a ‘down’ week, as I received a rejection for my book which my agent is presently trying to sell to publishers. Given that, it is really hard to know how far I am on the path to publication. The fact that I have a wonderful agent, who is very knowledgeable and is excited about selling my book is HUGE.
And yet . . .
I once tried to figure out the chance of book making it as far as publication, and it is hideously small. A couple of years ago, I had an agent who was trying to sell one of my books. She received over 1,000 queries a month from writers. She was a new agent (which is probably why she took me on as I had a grand total of 72 agent rejections up until the moment that she did), and over the course of the year of starting her business, took on forty clients. Let’s see . . . 40 is what percent of 12,000? And she was new to agenting. Many agents take on one new client a year, if that.
I think she sold only one or two books in the year and a half she was in business, and then closed up shop and dropped out of contact.
My response was to just keep writing . . .
So, now, with a new book (my fifth) and a new agent (since January), I am going through the process once again. As Anna pointed out on her web page about agents, there is a vast difference between an agent who knows what he or she is doing, and one who doesn’t. Sometimes it feels like any agent is worth having, but that’s not necessarily true. I know, for myself, that the book my first agent didn’t sell, just wasn’t good enough, and I simply needed to keep writing until I wrote something that was.
And even when you have a wonderful agent, there are no givens. My present book was rejected by the first 8 publishers who read it, and as a consequence, I rewrote huge sections of it, in addition to changing it from first person to third. This new version has been to two different publishing houses, and read by editors who liked it, even loved it . . . but still no contract. But because of the recent positive reviews, my agent is planning a ‘re-launch’, if you will, after Thanksgiving.
Which brings me to the question about how I’ve managed not to go insane . . . As I said in the beginning of the post, this could have been a down week, but instead of dwelling on yet another rejection, I’m doing NaNoWriMo! Now you can really question my sanity, but I find the process of writing 50,000 words in a month exhilarating. There is something wonderful about going from 0 to 50,000 in such short a time, even if half your sentences don’t appear to make sense at first glance. In a month, you have half a story, some semblance of a plot, and something to dive into when the publishing world has imploded and your book has clearly fallen into a black hole. Keep writing . . . keep writing . . . keep writing . . .
Otherwise, the answer is definitely ‘chocolate’.
Thanks so much, Sarah! As always, feel free to leave questions/responses/personal experiences in the comments! And good luck to everyone else who’s traveling that bumpy road to publication. The good news is that new authors and new books are STILL being published every month of every year–one day, one of those books could absolutely be yours!
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A Podcast
November 10th, 2009If you have a spare twenty minutes or so–or if you’re like me and like to have a distraction while folding laundry, cooking dinner, or whatever–the incredibly kind David Wilk invited me to record a podcast interview for his radio show, WritersCast. You can find our conversation here. Thanks so much for having me, David! I had a great time.
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Happy November!
November 8th, 2009Happy November, everyone! Are you NaNoWriMo-ing? I can’t believe how many people are–it’s amazing! The whole idea is pretty much the polar opposite of anything that works for me as a writing process, so I’m not myself. But I think it’s incredibly great that it gets so many people excited about writing and just sitting down and getting those words onto the page. That’s a huge part of the struggle right there.
I did, though, just start the first draft of a new book this week. Yikes! First drafts are always so scary. All that blank whiteness of the word processing page and that cursor just blink blink blinking at you wondering what you’re going to say. And this first draft is even scarier than usual, because for the first time in four years, I’m not writing Trystan and Isolde. It feels so strange–they’ve been with me for so long.
Now I’m diving into a completely new setting and time period, writing about a completely new cast of characters. Strange. And scary. But I love it, too. I think my favorite thing about the writing process is getting to know my characters. And here I am right at the beginning of the process, with brand new characters I’m only just starting to get acquainted with. I’m sure I can’t even imagine the surprises they have in store for me.
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Writer Unboxed
October 22nd, 2009I can’t believe I haven’t announced this yet–well, okay, actually I can believe it, given our month of newborn baby/moving chaos. But the baby is sleeping through the night–angel girl!–and the house is unpacked. And today I’m completely thrilled to announce that I’ve been asked to be a regular contributor to Writer Unboxed. And my first post is up today!
For those who may not know, Writer Unboxed is a wonderful blog where an amazing group of authors post daily to discuss every aspect of the writing business, from craft to publication to publicity. I read it constantly as an aspiring writer and it’s thrilling–and way intimidating and kind of surreal–to be one of those authors myself now.
Stop by today to read my thoughts on first drafts!
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Aspiring Author Q and A
October 16th, 2009I get a lot of e-mail from aspiring authors looking for advice, encouragement, etc.–and I love it! I’m always happy to share details from my own path to publication, and I’m thrilled if my experiences are any help to others. I traded e-mails with an aspiring author recently who said I’d given her “so much hope.” I love that!
But I sold the Twilight of Avalon trilogy nearly two years ago, now, and the publishing world has been through a huge amount of upheaval since then. In many ways, aspiring authors now are trying to break into an entirely new and very different market and publishing climate. That’s why I’m thrilled to welcome as a special guest today the incredibly talented Sarah Woodbury. Sarah has written a (totally wonderful) historical novel, has landed an agent, and is now going through the process of submitting to publishers. And she’s kindly agreed to do a series of interviews here about the highs, lows, and challenges of trying to get a book published today. Welcome, Sarah!
What made you start writing?
I had experience writing non-fiction—from school and work—but had kicked around the idea of writing a novel for years, quite literally, before I plunged ahead with my first attempt. I have four children, ranging in age from 18 to 5, and the youngest was two years old at the time. I was feeling like I needed to do something, but as a full-time caregiver, wasn’t prepared to work outside the home.
Initially, I had only a vague idea of a plot, although the kernel of the novel was a short story I had written to entertain my daughter (then about fourteen). She is a writer herself and I asked permission from her before I went ahead with the full novel, not wanting to trespass on what had been her special talent up until then.
It was a fantasy novel, with elves and magic, lots of battles and romance, and I wrote it during my son’s daily naps. In six weeks, I had churned out 300 pages and the experience taught me more about writing, and myself, than 5 years of graduate school.
What made you want to get published?
One thing leads to another, doesn’t it? Here I had this full length novel: what if I could actually get it published? I confess to delusions of grandeur, naiveté, and complete ignorance about what this endeavor might actually entail when I first started out.
Not all writers have the goal of getting published. It is my experience that many people enjoy the process of writing enormously but aren’t interested in sharing their work with anyone else. They write for themselves, and often because they couldn’t not write.
After 3 ½ years of intensive writing (and having completed 5 novels—all unpublished), I certainly am deeply attached to the process of writing, but it would lose much of its attraction for me if there were no possibility of sharing my stories, particularly with my family. I don’t need to be published, however, to do that.
The two worlds are very different, too. On one hand, you have the artist who writes in her own space; and on the other is a commercial endeavor with the primary goal of making money. So, I’m not sure that writing and publishing necessarily go hand-in-hand for everyone. I’m hoping, however, that they do for me.
While I admit I would very much like my work published, I would say that it is probably better if a writer who is just beginning to work on their first book—or even has written one novel and is starting on their second—put the idea of publishing out of their mind. It isn’t that a first or second book couldn’t be published, but that it can’t drive the work—the publishing experience is too frustrating, with too little compensation—for that to be a significant motivation.
Only after you’ve written a book, revised it 15 times, showed it to four or five people you trust who have given you feedback, and then revised it several more times, is a novel ready for public consumption. And then, maybe, it’s time to think about finding an agent.
What advice do you have for someone just starting out on writing?
Just write. Sit down every day and plow ahead, with whatever word count goal you choose. Maybe even try NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which is coming up in November. (nanowrimo.org)
And as you write, even if what you put on the page today is terrible, no-good, the worst chapter ever inflicted on a word processing program, believe that through editing, educating yourself, and reading what other people write and say about writing, you can learn and improve, and get better day by day. Until one day you read over the two pages you managed to write the day before and think to yourself, ‘hey, that’s pretty good!’
Don’t think about publishing. Don’t think about the fact that you’ve never written anything longer than a twenty page paper and that was for a class you hated in college. Don’t think about anything when you write but your characters and their struggles and joys and how to funnel their lives onto the page. Write for the sheer joy of it, and the knowledge that only you can tell the story in your head, and if you don’t, nobody will.
Thank you, Sarah! We’re going to be talking to Sarah more in the coming weeks about where she’s traveled so far on her path to publication, about handling rejection, working with an agent, and what it’s like to have your manuscript submitted to publishers. Anyone with questions/thoughts/experiences of their own to share, feel free to leave them in the comments. Sarah (or I) will do our best to answer anyone wanting to know more.
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