Snag with "Staked!", Very Litttle Fiction This Weekend

So yesterday, while in the midst of dealing with a family medical issue, Sarah Stegall calls me and said, "I have bad news."

While working on the formatting for Staked! the manuscript decided - because, apparently, that's what manuscripts do - to revert to an earlier save.

Except Sarah dosen't know which "save."

I reassured her that deducing it should be relatively easy, as I have growing collection of very different Staked! proof copies. We only need compare and fix.

Compare is easy. Refixing what she has already fixed hurts.

Especially since Sarah is uncommonly busy with work these days. It means she has to re-do work she has already done, in eeked-out amounts of time, when she has it.

I'm still clutching my enterprising spirit, but I have a growing respect for traditional publishing. It's challenging trying to meet traditional publishing professional standards when one is learning the basics of self-publishing.

If we weren't so picky and trying to releas a pristine book, Staked! could have been available long ago.

And there's the rub.

Impatient and Stalling

Last night at dinner, my oldest son called dibs on the first copy of Bryony's prequel when it's done.

I laughed. I've barely begun it.

"I'll be sending it to you from the nursing home," I said.

He pointed his fork at at me. "So hurry up and write it."

If only it was that simple.

Much has changed since I wrote the first three drafts of the Bryony series. My schedule's tighter with paying jobs (a good thing), while my household assistances (i.e. children) are aging out of their understudy roles and into their adult lives. All the manuscript editing that accompanies a novel on its way to publication eats up plenty of time, too.

While those are good reasons (excuses?) for not spending entire weekends before my attic desktop in an over-caffeinated fictional bliss, a harder truth eyeballs me and says, "You're afraid to start over."

Not afraid, I argue back. But definitely hesitant.

It's been over a year since I completed Bryony's third book, which ends the series, but in the meantime, I've done a lot of editing and rejoiced in the polishing of my work. Once you've experienced the fun of entertaining someone with your words, it's hard to step back and write something really awful, but that's foundational nature of first drafts. That's why their called "first." And "drafts."

And while my writing assignments require I write first drafts all day long, the material, at its source, is not mine. It doesn't spring from my imagination. Digesting your own bad writing is truly a humbling experience, and one I've not had to face for some time.

When ideas overflow and spill out, I become impatient at a life that doesn't allow for spontaneous composing when the muse demands it. When I do carve out that time and creativity doesn't immediately flow, I can easily fill those hours with other writing projects and feel justified doing so.

The answer? Not sure, but I know one thing. I WILL eventually write it.

Because I have to.

The IVA is Angry!

Thus, I tried to calm down a frantic Ed Calkins.

"What is the IVA?" I asked, balancing the phone on my ear so I can finish the dishes.

"It's a secret."

A secret?

"Ed, then why should I care...."

"And they're demanding the immediate release of Bryony."

I rinsed a plate. "Bryony is still going through editing."

"The IVA said it's taking too long."

"Has the IVA ever edited a book?"

Silence.

"Look, Ed, if you really want to read it, send back the release, already, and I'll give you the manuscript."

"I don't want to read the manuscript. I want to buy the book."

"And so you shall...when it's ready."

Since Ed is a featured vampire in Bryony, I can understand his impatience. It's not everyday someone signs off his identity for supposed fame. Certainly, two years later, I'd be a little bit curious how someone fictionalized me (Of course, I wouldn't sign off my identity, either, but that's another story).

I can also understand the impatience of those fans who have been following the process. The only information I have from the publisher is a vague "later this year." I know those are hard words to hear, but turning out a good book takes time.

Meanwhile, I want to know what the IVA is and on whose authority it's making demands. Ed has promised to supply the answer.

On Saturday.

It's Not What I Expected, Part 1

A couple of weeks ago, my oldest son Christopher, 29, asked to read Bryony. Although it did not meet his initial expectations of massive carnage, he enjoyed it enough to ask for the drafts of books two and three. Here are his comments.


1) Why did you ask for a copy?

“Everyone else in my family had read it, but for awhile, I didn’t have the time. After seeing the filming of the trailer and hearing the music, I was curious.”


2) What storyline were you anticipating?

“I thought it would be darker and be more graphic, not necessarily slasher, because I know the author likes some of that.”


3) What elements of Bryony did you enjoy?

“Trying to determine what was real and how to tell the difference between what was a pure dream and what was a propagated dream. I don’t think there was any time-traveling, but I liked the image of a whole exclusionary lifestyle. Even though it was a girly and a little fantastical, I still enjoyed it.”


4) Why did you think there was no time travel?

"When Melissa look our of the corner of her eye she sees decaying vampires. I think she was somehow psychically involved in the experience, almost like lucid dreaming with sight, sound, smell. Everything was as vivid as it could be; I just don’t think she actually went back into time to those events.”


5) Who were your favorite characters?

“Kellen was my favorite because he was the closest thing to a dark and evil character, so he especially kept my interest. I liked Henry because he was kind of sing-song; he was serious, but he went with it. He was honest; he told Melissa from the beginning to be careful, that she didn’t realize what she was getting into. He was no-nonsense, but he had a humorous side, too, all things considered.”

Making the Bryony Videos, Step One: Stephen Tuplin

Book trailers, in general, turn me off. They're too static and dry. I wanted something more visually exciting for Bryony.

Enter Stephen Tuplin.

Stephen is all about movies. Growing up, he'd invite a dozen kids to his house for the sole purpose of watching a movie together. The events were so well put together, and my son Timothy enjoyed them so much, that we offered similiar affairs at our house all the years we ran The Higher Ark youth group.

No one was surprised when Stephen was accepted into Tribeca Flashpoint Academy in Chicago as a film student. We had seem some of his childhood endeavors (His squirrel movie was a cult favorite at our house), so we all knew he had talent, and I enjoyed watching his progress from the clips he posted on Facebook.

I explained the project to Stephen, then sent him the manuscript and the illustrations. Soon afterward, he explained his vision for the trailer, along with a mention that he had an actress interested in portraying Bryony's main character Melissa Marchellis and some location ideas. Really, all he needed to do was film it.

That, I thought, was that.

Then, in December, when Bryony's web administrator, Sarah Stegall,  was in town, we had a Bryony "Meet and Greet" so everyone on the team (thus far) could shake hands round and put names to faces. At the meeting's close, Stephen leaned over and said, "Your website needs more content. I'd also like to make a music video and shoot interviews with members of the team."

The music video would feature James Onohan, the pianist and composer, playing the Bryony theme song he had created for our upcoming Bryony CD, The Best-Loved Compositions of John Simons. That CD will also feature Onohan's original music.

I agreed to Stephen's suggestion, with an idea of my own. "Let's dress up James in period clothing and shoot him at a concert grand piano in a Victorian mansion," I said.

Stephen loved the idea. Of course, now we needed to find appropriate costumes, a concert grand, and an old mansion, or at least, fabricate a reasonable facsimile.

After much thinking and prayer, I'd found the answer.

Whom Do You Admire?

A write acquaintance of mine, Serena Diosa, posed this question on her Facebook page for Tinkey’s Goldfish, a children’s book she wrote and self-published. In the several weeks since reading this post, I’ve pondered and considered about how to address it. I can list the people I love, respect, etc., but admire? This morning, it came to me: St. Therese of Avila. St. Therese was a sixteen century Roman Catholic mystic that suffered from ill health and experienced visions (some say she even levitated during Mass). She wrote her Interior Castle under obedience from her superiors and tells her story in a rambling, chatty prose that made me feel I was having a conversation with her. With Interior Castle, St. Therese suggests the soul is divided into seven rooms or “castles,” each having a particular character of its own. She describes each state so clearly, I could easily discern where I was on my spiritual journey using only her roadmap for my guide. I remember the first time I read Interior Castle. I was battling strep and waking frequently from the throat pain; my six month old nursing baby (now a strapping twenty-year-old culinary arts sutdent) woke up in-between those times. Upon each awakening, I would turn on the little light by the bed and read until I grew sleepy again. St. Therese’s writings were so compelling, I forgot about my sore throat and actually began to look forward to the disrupted sleep, so I could read some more. So why do I admire her? I'm attracted to her approach regarding life and mysticism; I appreciate her writing style. She also accomplished something most writers will never achieve (although many secretly hope they will): a manuscript people still seek out and voraciously read, centuries past her death.

Maybe I Should Have Written a Poem Instead

A university English professor contacted my publicist with a request to review Bryony. My publicist hesitated because this professor has an editing background, and the manuscript is still going through the editing process.

So they made deal. My publicist would give her the most recent draft if the professor agreed to stop reading if she found more than three mistakes. You guessed it. She has stopped reading.

GRRRRRR..................

Copy editing is not my best talent. In fact, it's safe to say it doesn't even rank as a talent. In college, the teacher would distribute these handouts with copy mistakes for us to correct. I'd read through those assignments until I was half-blind, but it would always come back with all the ones I'd skipped circled in red ink. I seriously think I'm missing the part of the brain that sees punctuation glitches.

With Bryony, although I conscientiously fix each error, I consistently introduce new ones whenever I make a content change. It's a 525 page + manuscript. I figure by the time it's mistake-free, my grandchildren will be the ones signing copies. In the meantime, I'm practicing more patience and persistence. At some point, the only changing left will be "copy and fix." Boy, am I looking forward to that day.

"For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing." Romans 7:19.

I figured Paul wrote this while he was copyediting Romans.

Quelling the Inner Editor

After having a blast writing the initial drafts for the first, three books in the Bryony series, I was thrilled to have finally outlined the prequel and corralled some increments of time to begin writing it.

I hadn’t gone far when the unthinkable happened. I stopped having fun. I wasn’t tired of the story or lacking in ideas. Rather, I two invisible intruders had taken up residence in my teeny tiny attic office: my internal copy editor and my internal line editor. They were perched on either side of my desk chair, monitoring every word.

Don’t get me wrong. All writers should self-edit their work and, as one quickly finds out, the rewriting and revision process is far more time-consuming and intense than laying out the original story. Obviously, when you’re writing that first draft, if some element is not working, you should listen to your editing self when it whispers that helpful advice in your ear.

Nevertheless, when my inner editors continously harp about this detail or that detail or, worse, scoop up the manuscript before it’s scarcely begun and start prematurely tearing apart my story, they kill my creative flow.

When I wrote Bryony, Visage and Staked! the words spilled out of me almost faster than I could type them. I was already two-thirds done with Staked! when Bryony’s first round of edits arrived in the mail. Moving through an additional two rounds has taught me a lot about writing and developed my editing skills. For that, I’m profoundly thankful.

It’s just now that I’m writing the first draft of a new book, I must remember to hang my editor’s hat at the door before I sit down to type. There will be plenty of opportunity to retrieve it later.

Navigating Publishing Options

I had scant knowledge of the book publishing industry when I wrote Bryony. Until then, I figured you either mailed a manuscript to a publisher and crossed your fingers or paid a vanity press thousands of dollars for a badly edited and bound book.

So, before I became part of the mix, I consulted an updated Writer's Digest and took a ride on the web to find out exactly what that mix was. Along the way, I found other useful resources: Writer Beware, Absolute Write Water Cooler and Preditors and Editors. I learned the difference among then unfamiliar terms: self-publishing, POD, independent press, and vanity press. I studied how "traditional" publishing worked, how to recognize those sites that billed themselves as traditional publishers when they really were fee-paying sites in disguise.

These were my choices:

* Find agent representation who would then try to sell the manuscript to a publishing house, hopefully a large one. Most major publishing houses refuse to look at a manuscript unless submitted by an agent.

* Submit to a small, independent press.

* Pay a company to edit and pubish the book and (possibly) buy the company's add-on marketing services (although I had seen few successful titles with these companies, leading me those marketing services were not valuable).

* Truly self-publish, which meant overseeing the entire project from start to finish (from formatting to design, to editing, to locating a printer, and playing marketer, etc.), a daunting prospect for me.

* Use a cooperative press (the publisher pays some; I pay some).

Tomorrow: The pros and cons of the above for Bryony.

My Family and Friends Loved It

Authors will often judge the saleability of a manuscript by this criteria. Valid? Not sure.

My friends have not read Bryony, but, little by little, my family--immediate and extended-- have asked to read it. For us, it's become a cult favorite. Supportive of my efforts? Well, maybe, but that's not historically typical of my family.

While I cannot predict future sales figures for the book post-publication, my fifteen year old son Daniel best summed it as, "The book has brought the family together." Certainly we are communicating more, and that's a good thing.

To us, Bryony is already successful. That does not mean we will rest on our laurels, and throw the book's future to fate. However, I'm thrilled that the most important people in my life are one hundred percent behind this book. To me, the rest is gravy.

The First Cut is the Hardest

I’m not certain when the first round of edits arrived, since we don’t use the front door much in the winter. One of the kids had opened it on a Saturday afternoon in January and there was my manuscript, packaged and propped against the door.

A list of suggestions accompanied the copyediting. To my relief, those suggestions did not include deletions or plot changes, nothing that drastic. I focused on the mistakes. My husband Ron saw only the positive comments, especially, “A series would sell.” I couldn’t wait to get to work.

The editor wanted to deeper character development in two supporting characters. I was also instructed to deepen scene descriptions (I had focused more on action), use longer sentences, and to eliminate “wordiness” (a general, persistent fault of mine).

Then, an interesting thing happened. I had spent months learning to tell a story in novel form and even more months perfecting it. When I sat down to make my first, official change, I felt like a surgeon operating for the first time, except that I was also the patient. That first slice into my manuscript was the most painful. The rest were substantially easier.

The biggest error I made throughout the manuscript was style confusion (AP vs. MLA) and it was HUGE. The second, not as pervasive, but very embarrassing, was that some of my carefully set page breaks had moved.

It took eight weeks of daily work before Bryony was ready for its second send-off. I set it aside for several days and scrolled through it. I found copy errors and straying page breaks. I cracked.

Submitting Bryony

Although I had been a journalism major and had freelanced a dozen years for a newspaper, I had scant knowledge of the book industry. I thought authors simply packaged their manuscripts, sent them to publishing houses, and waited for the ensuing rejection or acceptance.

To my credit, before I sent that first query, I researched the submission process, including how to properly format a manuscript. Being technologically impaired, I only knew how to do certain things by hand. It took an entire weekend to change my single-spaced manuscript into a double-spaced one and to manually set each page break.

Feeling like a guppy out to sea, I bravely sent my first Bryony query and, four weeks later, happily accepted my first rejection. I had officially joined the ranks of other hopeful authors. I was on my way.

After two months and several more queries passed I decided I wasn't doing too badly. I had two more agent rejections, one agent request for a full manuscript, and small press request for a partial. Both happened near my birthday, so that was pretty cool, at least until my manuscript returned, rejected, from the agent. The small press remained quiet, so I researched some more and sent out a another batch of queries, which I promptly regretted.

Why did I regret it? There was something about the process that seemed inconsistent with my goals. I only wanted to share an entertaining story with others who wanted to read it, and I wanted to encourage other people's writing efforts. I wasn't against marketing my work, but I wasn't trying to break into high-profile, commercial fiction, either.

I also wanted Kathleen R. Van Pelt's illustrations, but that's another post.

Self-publishing seemed the preferable alternative, but I hesitated for two reasons: I couldn't afford it, and I feared unprofessional editing. Then, I interviewed an author who used WriteLife LLC.