Our local Borders has closed, threatening to bring down the neighborhood with it. Publishers are reporting lower sales. Amazon is arguing with Macmillan, everyone is arguing with Google and books that you can read on printed pages between two covers– what are those? A lot seems to be amiss in the world of book publishing and selling since I last posted. I will let other reliable sources sort out the trends and realities for you (www.publishersweekly.com). The sky is not falling but the future of the industry is indeed up in the air. Much like the music industry, a new model will emerge to, hopefully, keep readers reading and continue to generate income for published writers. So, stand by, keep writing well, and again, don’t forget to buy books, in whichever form you wish.
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I’m delighted to let you know about two titles, hot off the press. Both writers came to me with terrific ideas which they fine-tuned into proposals that grabbed a publisher’s interest. The subjects are very different, but the books are similar in their unique vision, clarity, engaging writing style and purposefulness.
Raising a Left-Brain Child in a Right-Brain World: Strategies for Helping Bright, Quirky, Socially Awkward Children to Thrive at Home and In School by Katharine Beals. (Shambhala Publications)
Wrench in the System: What’s Sabotaging Your Business Software and How You Can Release the Power to Innovate by Harold Hambrose (Wiley)
A friend calls you. He says he wants to tell you about how he met the woman of his dreams at the train station. You can’t wait to hear. You meet for coffee. You sit down. “Well?”. He tells you how he took a long shower that morning, how he combed his hair, how he ate a bagel with jelly and butter, (or, no, it was cream cheese), how he grabbed his keys, got in his car, drove to the station… “Well???”
If the follow-up is not absolutely necessary to the actual story, then skip it. Don’t write about the process of your character getting to the train station. Just be there.
It is a good feeling to write a line with confidence, so much confidence that you want to write it twice. The problem is, in most cases, a reader gets your point right away. Twice is not nice and more is just more.
Here is an example. “When she saw the shadow on the wall, her breathing stopped and she began to shiver. She was terrified. “ Here is the same line, written two different ways and written better the first time. The second line is an attempt to drive the first one home. It is already there.
It comes as no surprise to established authors that they are responsible for a number of the public relations duties involved in promoting their books. For new authors, it is understandably a bit of a shock. You do all the hard work of coming up with the idea, writing, revising, rewriting and finally, dutifully placing a final manuscript on an editor’s desk in a timely manner. And then… your real work begins.
It’s time to set up book signings, send out announcements, start a blog, revamp your website, etc., etc. Yes, your publisher will assign a publicist to help you but her help may be far short of what is needed to successfully get your book into many hands.
The author MJ Rose offers an interesting proposal to ease this dilemma. If a publisher is requiring an author to do, and it follows, pay, for a lot of her own publicity, then why doesn’t the publisher take this into account when giving the author an advance? Shouldn’t an author get more money for these extra duties?
Check out her piece, and some reactions to it in www.publishingperspectives.com.
Revising your work can be a tedious or a satisfying process, but it should always be instructive and it should always lead you to a better piece of writing.
It helps to break the task down. First, revise chapter by chapter. Does the action, internal or external move forward from one chapter to the next or are any chapters simply “episodes”, not telling us anything useful and therefore, not necessary? Press delete. And keep it pressed until something is happening.
Next, revise scene by scene. Is there too much exposition within scenes or just enough to fill in the blanks?
Next, look at each paragraph and then each sentence. Have you said the same thing twice but in two different ways?
Finally, and this is where satisfying may turn to tedious, look at each word. Well, almost each word. You are not only looking for typos, but carefully considering if each word is your best choice. I learned the importance of “le mot juste” from working on translations. It is the same lesson put into practice by poets. Every word means something different, often only slightly different, from every other word. And each word matters.
Another movie which features a tortured writer is Sideways. Paul Giamatti plays the misunderstood sad sack with the 1000 plus page manuscript that is rejected by a big time agent.
He finds redemption in the love of a good woman who reads the doorstop and proclaims it brilliant. And this is where I check out.
Brilliant? Well, maybe. Publishable? I hope after the lights went up, the gorgeous blond sweetly suggested over another pinot that he would do well to cut the work in half.
My favorite movie that features writers and the world of publishing is The Wonder Boys from 2000 based on a novel by Michael Chabon.
Robert Downey Jr. is the editor, trying to coax a new book out of the former darling of the literati, Michael Douglas, a creative writing professor plagued by writers’ block.
It’s a very funny satire of university based writers’ workshops (would-be participants can get a not very exaggerated sneak preview of what they will be getting into).
It is also a poke in the eye to those editors obsessed with finding the next big thing.
I’m afraid however that my friend, a very fine novelist having much difficulty with his second book, did not find it funny at all.
When friends ask me what I have been reading lately that I would recommend, the first book that often pops into my head is one I actually read over a decade ago. Angela’s Ashes is that good, that memorable, and I want to make sure that no one who loves a good tale misses out on it.
Frank McCourt’s book was not only breathtaking, it’s publishing story was groundbreaking. It was a forerunner of the current, now long-running, trend of childhood memoirs. It is hard to imagine that only 15 years ago, memoir was a genre left almost entirely to eminent figures reflecting on the breadth and depth of their entire, long lives.
It was also original because it was a “word-of-mouth” bestseller. A limited number of copies were printed, a very modest publicity campaign was launched and expectations were low. And then those first buyers and independent booksellers spread the word…
I was sad to hear of McCourt’s death. I didn’t know him, but his singular prose made me feel like I did, like he was a friend who gave me a wonderful gift– which I am always eager to pass along.
Any writer trying to create and develop consistently interesting characters would do well to meet Frog and Toad. That is, the characters dreamed up by Arnold Lobel in his series of children’s books.
Yes, you should also carefully study Anna Karenina, but recognize the genius in the 37 or less pages of Lobel’s stories and learn from them too. A child’s attention span will not accomodate leisurely character development. And, a child is wise to overdrawn or clicheed characters (or animals). They are dull. The spry, “glass half-full” Frog and the grumpy, paranoid Toad are subtle,fully drawn and real as can be– you will surely recognize them from your own circle of friends…
