Marcia Laycock tries to write, in spite of her trouble focusing, from Alberta Canada. She has won awards for both her non-fiction and fiction writing and her work has been broadcast on national radio. Her second novel is in process and her devotional book, Spur of the Moment, has just gone into a second print run. Visit her website - www.vinemarc.com
This one is just for fun because I think some of you might relate. :)
I start my day with a cup of coffee and think about what I should have for breakfast.
I decide on cereal but there isn’t any milk, so I find a scrap of paper and begin a shopping list.
The phone rings and I take a message for my husband, on another scrap of paper, then remember that I have to call a friend but the phone goes dead so I return it to the cradle and go hunting for the other one.
I enter my office and notice there’s a ‘note to self’ to send an email to my publisher. I sit down to do that and open my email program.
But there’s a note from my daughter so I open it and then decide to send my other daughter a note but she’s on Facebook so I click on the internet icon and open up the world of fb friends.
One of them is excited because she is having her first book published so I send her a note to congratulate her.
Then I decide to click into her site to see what the book cover looks like and notice a link about marketing that looks interesting, so I click on it and decide that it’s a great article so go to my blog to link to it.
There’s a message from a reader there so I take just a wee moment to answer it, and while I’m doing that I remember I intended to post an article to my writing blog.
So I open the folder on my computer where that article should be but it’s not there so I open another one and find a short story that I intended to send to a magazine.
So I go back to my email program and open it up and see that the four lists I’m on have all sent their daily digests so I take just a few moments to look at them.
Then my stomach growls and I realize it’s lunch time. My husband comes home and we decided to go out for a bite and then decide we really need to look at that bed we’ve been thinking about buying.
Then we see the Tim’s on the corner so decide we need a coffee.
I remember that there wasn’t any milk for breakfast so we go to our favourite, huge, all-in-one store and take just a little while to look at the laptops and cameras while we're there. To buy milk. Right. Don't forget the milk.
Suddenly it’s supper time. We drive home and throw something together to eat before heading out to our regular Bible study.
Someone asks how my writing is going.
Writing? Who has time for writing?
Oh Lord, “Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Ps. 90:12
That's the catch phrase of the National November Writing Month organization, also known as NaNoWriMo.
I had to admit, the very first time I heard about this was after I was already knee-deep in a manuscript, and I frowned on the idea, seeing nothing more than a flood of hastily written manuscripts to help clog the slush pile.
I've never participated, but I've changed my mind since then. I've watched as people have taken an interest in novel writing. I've seen bloggers (those who are not writers normally) suddenly chart their efforts and talk about their novel they are writing. The project has gone international—and now I’m glad that yearly there is a stir of interest in fiction writing.
Who knows, maybe a literary giant will finally wake and realize what they're really meant to do.
Born and raised in Massachusetts, Brunonia Barry studied literature and creative writing at Green Mountain college in Vermont and at the University of New Hampshire and was one of the founding members of the Portland Stage Company. While still an undergraduate at UNH, Barry spent a year living in Dublin and auditing Trinity College classes on James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Barry’s love of theater led to a first job in Chicago where she ran promotional campaigns for Second City, Ivanhoe, and Studebaker theaters. After a brief stint in Manhattan, where she studied screenwriting at NYU, Barry relocated to California because she had landed an agent and had an original script optioned. Working on a variety of projects for several studios, she continued to study screenwriting and story structure with Hollywood icon Robert McKee, becoming one of the nine writers in his Development Group.
Brunonia’s love for writing and storytelling has taken her all across the country but after nearly a decade in Hollywood, Barry returned to Massachusetts where, along with her husband, she co-founded an innovative company that creates award-winning word, visual and logic puzzles. In recent years, she has written books for the Beacon Street Girls, a fictional series for ‘tweens. Happily married, Barry lives with her husband and her only child that just happens to be a 12-year-old Golden Retriever named Byzantium. The Lace Reader is her first original novel.
Tell us a bit about your current project.
I have just finished my second book, The Map of True Places, which will come out some time in May. It’s a story about finding one’s place in the world. Like The Lace Reader, it is set in Salem, Massachusetts, and is a contemporary story with embedded history. The protagonist is a psychotherapist who believes she may have caused the death of a patient.
We are all about journeys...unique ones at that. How convoluted was your path to your first published book? Share some highlights or lowlights from your path to publication.
When I began The Lace Reader, I set out to write a heroic journey for a woman. In the story, the protagonist has to go back in order to move forward in her life. Looking back, I think that my path to publication may have had a similar theme. When I was twenty-six and living in Manhattan, I took a screenwriting course at NYU which got me my first agent. Then, I sold my first screenplay. Or at least that’s what I believed at the time. Actually, my script was optioned a total of four times over the next several years, but it was never produced. But that bit of good fortune took me out to Los Angeles. At the time, it was easier and certainly cheaper to be a struggling artist in LA than it was in New York. My first apartment there was late 50’s retro, it looked like something out of an Elvis movie. I think it cost two hundred dollars a month and had a pool I could swim in year round. I was in heaven. I lived on option money for almost two years before I had to get a real job. Then I worked on soundstages in Hollywood, renting space for rock videos (Madonna, Michael Jackson) and Indie films (Nightmare on Elm Street). It was a surreal Hollywood experience. I’m certain that there is a book there somewhere, and, someday, I will probably write it.
I was also lucky to be picked by screenwriting guru Bob McKee for his development group. It was challenging, and I learned a lot. We met every Monday night and critiqued each other’s scripts. The writers in the class were wonderful, and I felt honored to be part of the group. But in the three years I spent in the writing group, I never finished another screenplay. I’ve thought about this many times and wondered why. Lately, I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason I couldn’t finish that script was that I am ultimately a novelist and not a screenwriter. This may be revisionist history, but I’m sticking with that explanation. I didn't finish that script in Los Angeles, and I didn’t finish any other piece of writing either in the fifteen years I spent there. I did meet my future husband, and I had a great time, but I wasn’t writing.
After fifteen years, we moved back to New England. My first night back, I had the dream that inspired The Lace Reader. Although it took a long time and many rewrites to finish it, I had finally found not only my voice but my medium.
Share the biggest difference between being an author with a house and being a self-published author. What did you do to overcome the negatives?
My husband and I had a small software publishing company, and, being quite entrepreneurial, we thought it would be an easy leap from publishing software to starting an Indie press. We like to say that were emboldened by our ignorance. Our original intention was not to self publish, but to start a press that would publish local fiction. Since we had done something similar with our software, our goal was to prove the success of a specific title in a local market, and then, if we thought we could scale it up, to find a larger distributor. It was more challenging than we had imagined. Initially, we were turned down by several distributors because we only had one book on our list, the one I had written. In the end, we got an introduction to a distributor on the personal recommendation of our PR company. We felt very lucky when they fell in love with the book and accepted us. Then The Lace Reader received a starred review in Publishers Weekly. So we were on our way. The other problem we ran into was that, even with distribution, while the stores may order the book, as a general rule they will only order one or two copies, which they place, spine out, on the shelves. With few exceptions, the larger front-of-store displays are paid for by the major publishers, which gives them a much stronger marketing presence.
The other down side is the expense. We had enough money to launch The Lace Reader to a limited market but would have lacked the marketing budget to really keep the buzz going had a larger publisher not picked up the book.
The down side of being with a house has been negligible. The only thing I could point to is a lack of control over each aspect of the publishing process. As an entrepreneur, I was accustomed to having my hand in everything and deciding where and when funds should be spent for promotion, etc.. That said, I have been incredibly lucky and have been included in many decisions. William Morrow and Harper Collins have been extremely good to me, and have done much more than I would have expected to promote the book. And the teams of people there have an expertise we could never hope to duplicate as a small press.
In your opinion, what does a self-published successful author look like?
We are definitely entrepreneurial and probably control freaks. To self-publish, I think you have to be comfortable with uncertainty and fairly confident in your abilities to both sell and promote not only your product but yourself. That sounds rather egotistical, and I think there has to be a bit of that personality trait in the self-published author. After all, they used to call it vanity publishing. But, self-published or not, I think there is an element of ego in the act of writing itself.
Share your opinion of the stigma attached to self-publishing. (If you need a jumping board -- that the writing is inferior...)
I think the biggest stigma I’ve encountered is the preconception that a self-published book is somehow inferior, either in writing or in subject matter. I am so accustomed to being entrepreneurial that this concept didn’t occur to me until after I was with a house and The Lace Reader had become both well reviewed and successful. I’m glad I didn’t think about the way it might be perceived, because I might not have done it, and then, of course none of this would have happened. In both the entertainment industry and the software industry, being an indie much more acceptable. Most actors I know have their own production companies, most bands start out by doing their own production, software and internet companies start small then get gobbled up by the majors. Those industries seem a bit more progressive than publishing. I think and hope that this is changing. In this economy, it would certainly make sense for a larger publishing house to want some proof of success before buying a book.
Do you still experience self-doubts regarding your work, or struggle in a particular area such as writers block or angst driven head-banging against walls? Please share some helpful overcoming hints that you’ve discovered.
One of the reasons I write is to overcome my general angst, so the process is therapeutic for me. I think insecurity and self-doubt are part of the creative process and exist in tandem with (and in contradiction to) the ego issues I mentioned above. With The Lace Reader, my biggest fear was that I would not be able to finish the book. I hadn’t had much luck with finishing writing projects. Now, of course, it’s the question I hear from well-meaning but judgmentally challenged message-passers: “Can she do it again?” I think there will always be something, and I don’t think, as writers, that we can dwell on any of those things for very long. I keep a quote from Goethe nailed on the wall above my desk: “Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.”
What mistakes have you made while seeking publication? Or to narrow it down further what’s something you wish you’d known earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business.
I didn't get to the point of actively seeking publication, though, very early on, I did send some query letters (and then pages) to agents who told me to send it back when it was finished. Instead of doing that, we went directly to self-publication. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it had to do with the timeliness of the book and the long response time from agents. Within two weeks of our self-published edition, the book went to auction and landed with William Morrow.
What is your favorite source for finding story ideas?
Right now it’s Salem, Massachusetts, which is where I live. The city is a character in my novels, and that character changes and arcs. There is so much history here. And, of course, the city’s economy depends on promoting a dark chapter of our history that most of us wish we could forget. You can go for a short walk in Salem and come back with a story
Have you ever had one of those awkward writer moments you’d like to share with us, the ones wherein you get “the look” from the normals? Example, you stand at a knife display at the sporting goods store and ask the clerk which would be the best to use to disembowel a six foot man…please do tell.
The first time I spoke in public, I was terrified. It was at the Georgetown, MA Library speaking to a very large group of women. I was the warm-up act for the writer everyone had really come to see, André Dubus III. Rather early in my presentation, I made the mistake of announcing that my characters spoke to me. The room grew very quiet. You have to understand that The Lace Reader is about a woman who has been hospitalized and has had electroshock therapy. Readers always want to know how much of any book is autobiographical. So the minute I said that my characters spoke to me, I knew I was in trouble. I looked around the room for André whom I hadn’t yet met, but who, as the only man in the room except for my husband, was not hard to spot. “Help me out here,” I said to him. “Do your characters talk to you?” He grinned and answered, “I think there’s a medication you can take for that,” and everyone just started laughing. It broke the ice, and I finally relaxed. When it was André’s turn to speak, he admitted that his characters had a way of speaking to him as well.
With the clarity of experience what advice would you offer up to the wet-behind-the-ears you if beginning this writing journey today?
I would tell them to write something that they would like to read and not to be attached to the results.
What event/person has most changed you as a writer? How?
I think coming home to New England was the thing that changed me. I left at eighteen and didn’t come back until I was forty-five. I had mixed emotions about returning to the place where I had started. But, like my main character in The Lace Reader, I had to go back to go forward. My husband and I moved back east to take care of ailing parents. Though it was a difficult and sometimes sad task, there was a certain opening of the heart that happened that allowed me to write and to understand my characters in a new way.
Do you have a pet peeve having to do with this biz?
Not really. It has been very good to me so far.
Share a dream or something you'd love to accomplish through your writing career.
I’d like to keep writing novels for a long time.
What gives you the greatest writer buzz, makes the trip worth the hassles (besides coffee or other substances, or course )?
Meeting a reader who really identifies with my story. The Lace Reader is about abuse and domestic violence. Along the way, I have met a few readers who told me that I got it right, that they felt as if someone understood what they had gone through. To me, writing is all about making that connection, and when it happens, it’s the best thing in the world.
Describe your special or favorite writing spot.
We bought a house in Salem that once belonged to two artists. They lived here for thirty- seven years. The room I write in was their son’s bedroom, and they had decorated it with old National Geographic maps. It has four huge windows and a great view of some of Salem’s prettiest Federal style houses. In addition to the desk, the room is home to several items I have collected as inspiration for my new story. Here’s an inventory that I took one day when I was having a hard time writing: All things Hawthorne and Melville. A carved wooden moose on skis that I brought back from Maine on last summer’s book tour. Two Revolutionary War soldiers that were once in my parents’ house and now stand facing each other from both sides of the fireplace. Three ships’ models. Several books about pirates. A map of famous New England shipwrecks. Six volumes of romantic poetry. Three envelopes full of Gibraltar candies from Ye Olde Pepper Company. A photo of my maternal grandmother in her wedding gown. A piece of lace carved from an eggshell. Two quartz singing bowls tuned to different chakras. Several books on meditation. A ceramic tree my mother in law sent with Celtic crosses and leprechauns hanging from its branches. A seagull that flies upside down like a distress flag and cannot be up-righted. Several cups of coffee in various stages of consumption, decaf for writing, full octane for the editing process.
What aspect of writing was the most difficult for you to grasp/conquer? How did you overcome it?
I think the most difficult part is knowing when a book is finished, when to let it go. There is always something I’d like to change, and I certainly do a lot of rewriting, which is the part of the process that I enjoy the most. But I do think you can write the life out of a story. Being under contract and having deadlines is a big help for me, though I would like to have a bit more time than I usually get.
What is the first thing you do when you begin a new book?
The first thing I do is panic. After that, I just write for a while and try to find my characters. I’ve heard some writers call this “clearing your throat.” I write about fifty pages, sometimes more, discovering the characters as I go and putting them into whatever situation I have envisioned and watching what they do. When I finally feel as if I know them, I put those pages aside and begin the real story.
Writing rituals. Do you have to sit somewhere specific, complete a certain number of words, leave something undone to trigger creativity for the next session? Some other quirk you’d like to share?
I usually like to take a stab at an entire chapter each time I sit down. That said, a first draft of a chapter can be as brief as a few sentences. If I get stuck, I leave gaps to be filled in later. If I get really stuck, I will move past the chapter and then come back to it. I do a very brief synopsis at the beginning of each chapter, explaining what should happen. Eventually, I step back and string those together creating an outline. Then I step back to look at the entire story, the pacing, etc. This is a loose outline, it will change as I go. The characters always determine the outcome.
What is the most difficult part of pulling together a book? Ex. Do you have saggy middles, soggy characters, soupy plots during your first drafts…if so, how do you shape it up?
For me, it is the order of events. I always have to keep in mind what a character wants and what’s keeping her from getting it. This is true for each character, and I have to make sure I’m stepping up their efforts to achieve things realistically. Generally, I believe that people will do as little as possible to get what they want. We are lazy by nature, I think. If it doesn’t work, we try something bigger. And so it goes. I have to make sure those actions build and are in the right places.
Have you received a particularly memorable reader response or peer honor? Please share.
The Lace Reader recently won the International Women’s Fiction Festival’s Baccante award for the Best Book of 2009. It was special for two reasons: because I was the first American writer to win the award, and because the award is given to a book that takes on women’s issues, in this case, domestic violence. I went to Italy to receive the award and met women writers from all over the world. It was a thrill.
Have you discovered any successful marketing/promo ideas that you'd share with us?
What has worked best for me has been connecting with book clubs. If they like your book, they pass the word to other clubs, and it happens rather quickly. I love going to book club meetings. I try to attend one or two of them per week.
Parting words? Anything you wish we would’ve asked because you’ve got the perfect answer?
I grew up in the Catholic Church. God was real to me, but He wasn’t personal. How could a God possibly love me? When I was about 30, a man convinced me to begin reading the Bible … that my faith in God was still in there somewhere. I don’t have a “salvation moment” as many do. For me, it was a process – one that continued into my marriage to Andrea and which was influenced both by her strong faith and by the spiritual awakening that was the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. One day, I just knew that what I had been reading in the Bible all these years was true. And that God meant it for me. So, for the last 30 years, the journey has been primarily in trying to apply God’s love to me, to my life. I know He loves everybody else. But me? That’s the struggle.
My kids – Michael, Patrick, Meghan and Matthew – always inspire me with their enthusiasm for life and their encouragement. But my greatest inspiration while writing The Sacred Cipher came from my wife, Andrea. Not only did she give me the gift of a year of Saturdays in which to write the book, but she kept me sane and rooted during the many long, agonizing stretches when I struggled with fear, doubt and inadequacy. Andrea is not only my prayer partner, she’s also my best friend and biggest fan.
As for me, I was a journalist for 22 years, ending up as an editor and/or publisher of newspapers in Pennsylvania, Illinois and New York State. Then God moved in a miraculous way, picked us up out of the newspaper business and dropped me into New York City as Vice President of Christian Herald Association, the organization that runs The Bowery Mission and three other ministries to the addicted and homeless here in New York. After 12 years with The Bowery Mission, I’m now Vice President of the National Organization on Disability.
What made you start writing?
I think I was born a writer … it was the way God wired me. But I didn’t become aware of it until I was a freshman in high school. I’ve written ever since, first spending 22 years as a journalist – 15 as a sportswriter.
But I never considered myself a ‘writer’ until I tried my hand at my first novel in the mid-90’s. That one took four years, then sat in a drawer for six years. One day, I thought, I wonder if there is any value in that book? Eventually I went to my first writer’s conference – the Philadelphia Christian Writer’s Conference – in 2005. I had an idea that I pitched to anyone who would listen, got a lot of encouragement and … boom … that was it. Off on this crazy journey. It took four years for The Sacred Cipher to go from an idea at the ’05 Philly Conference to launch date 2009.
What's the most difficult part of writing for you (or was when you first started on your novel journey)?
Confidence is always a roadblock, and I haven’t overcome that one yet.
Organization is another challenge, and I haven’t overcome that one yet, either.
But, once I sold a book, pride and arrogance showed up in a hurry. With a book getting published, I figured I must have the golden touch. So I wrote my second novel much too quickly, didn’t pay enough attention to my craft. God put a dent in my pride with a 2 x 4 when the second novel was declined. There is nothing as effective as God’s reality check.
But the most difficult part of writing really is the discipline to sit down and write on a regular basis. When I have it, magic happens. When I don’t, nothing happens. Creating and sticking to a rigid schedule is one of the few ways I’ve found to establish discipline.
Do you put yourself into your books/characters?
So far, my male protagonists always start off as me. But, then they wake up to the power they hold and begin to demand the ability to express themselves. After that, it’s anybody’s guess who they are.
I’m not a character-driven author, but a plot-driven author. I’ve always been a story teller. Story tellers always start with the story. The people in the story are secondary to the story itself … they people the universe, but they don’t determine the universe. The story does.
I think my story telling was sharpened and defined by my 15 years as a sportswriter. When you cover sports, the game is the story. The athletes play the game, so they have a part, but the game is the story – the score; the impact of the score; etc. So when I come at a story, I come at it through the plot, not the people.
As a result, many of my characters start off as some version of me – or someone I know – and then grow organically into who they will eventually become.
Usually, there’s not much of me left at the end.
At what point did you stop juggling suggestions and critiques and trust yourself (as a writer)?
I’ve always trusted myself as a writer. You don’t spend more than a decade as a sportswriter, writing stories on deadline, without trusting your ability to write – trust and confidence not always being the same thing.
But novel writing is a totally different ball game with a whole new set of rules. I trust my storytelling, but I also know I need a lot of help in determining a character’s motivation, in developing deep, realistic, empathetic characters and in maintaining the pace and structure of a novel. And, once you’ve worked with a good editor – like Miranda Gardner and Dawn Anderson at Kregel Publications – you’d be foolish not to look forward to suggestions and critiques from people of their caliber.
Tell us a little about your latest release:
The Sacred Cipher is an adult thriller/suspense novel triggered by the discovery of a hidden room behind the organ pipes in The Bowery Mission’s chapel in New York City. A huge safe in the room holds an ancient scroll with a message written in an extinct language that has never been deciphered. The first half of the book takes place in NYC as a ‘team’ of guys tries to discover the meaning of the content of the message, and the second half is when the team goes off to find out if the message is, in fact, true.
Here’s the blurb from the back cover of the book:
"When New Yorker Tom Bohannon uncovers an ancient scroll containing a dead language that has been lost in the sands of time, he doesn't fully comprehend the danger that's about to unfold. Though Tom and his team of ragtag scientists and historians want to decode the ancient text, others don’t want the cipher revealed. Andthey are prepared to kill to keep it hidden.
"From a market in nineteenth-century Alexandria to a library in present-day New York to the tunnels beneath Jerusalem, the secret of the cipher is gradually revealing itself across the globe. And for those in its path, life is about to change - forever."
Sounds fascinating! How did you come up with this story? Was there a specific 'what if' moment?
My wife and I lived in The Bowery Mission for many years while I worked for its parent organization, the Christian Herald Association. I had the idea for the second half of the story (which is the surprise part) and that was kicking around in my head. Then, one day I was standing at the back of The Bowery Mission’s 120-year-old chapel, looking up at the organ pipes that rise high above the speaker’s platform. And I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if there was a room hidden behind the organ pipes? Of course, I had been behind the organ pipes many times and knew what was there – certainly not a hidden room. But the idea was intriguing, and that’s when the two pieces started coming together and, eventually, formed The Sacred Cipher.
Tell us a little about your main character and how you developed him/her:
Since I needed somebody who worked at The Bowery Mission to be the person who found the hidden room and the secret scroll, I created Tom Bohannon to be a lot like me (I wasn’t very clever with the name, was I?). He is a former journalist, a former Catholic who has encountered and accepted the grace of Jesus Christ, a Penn State grad and a guy struggling with the concept that God really does love him. Hits pretty close to home. The challenge for me was in how to develop Tom as his own person – not just a shadow of me. I’m still working on that development now, in the sequel.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book? Least?
I really enjoyed the discovery of the journey. I started with the idea of how the book would start and how it would end and … in very general terms … what the story would be. Who knew? Over many months, the story told itself to me. And, as I searched for its various pieces, God would reveal to me in my research some crazy, wild idea or bit of information that I had never conceived of before – and that ended up adding some wonderful level of depth to the narrative. One of those was tripping across the English composer Sir Edward Elgar and his fondness for codes and ciphers. Outside of Pomp and Circumstances March played at every graduation, I had no clue who Elgar was. But he ends up playing a significant part in the development of the plot. Those things, and there were many, were like finding buried treasure. What a kick!
Least? The self-flagellation about how undisciplined I am … the self-doubt while the manuscript is out being “pitched” and, now, holding my breath to see if anyone will actually buy the thing.
What message do you hope readers gain from your novel?
That God loves them … them, personally. Every other religion in the world is about man reaching up to try and find God. The Judeo-Christian faith is all about God reaching down to find man, and to love man unconditionally. That God invites relationship, encourages communications, and listens to prayer. God wants to be known. That’s how much he loves each of us.
What does your writing space look like?
I have an office, now, for the first time in over 30 years of marriage. And, for the first time in 30 years of marriage, I have all of the old, antique books I’ve been collecting for three decades out of boxes and up on bookshelves. The bookshelves cover two walls. They are inexpensive pine that I stained and finished myself, and they are packed with some pretty cool, old books. I love my library.
My computer is in the corner opposite from the bookshelves. In the opposite corner, behind me, is an old Morris chair with thick cushions and a tall brass lamp behind it … our favorite reading chair. To my right is a two-drawer, black metal filing cabinet. Above the filing cabinet is an antique, ornately designed gold-painted (and tarnished) wooden frame that holds a collage of most of the credentials I gathered during 15 years as a sportswriter – Sugar Bowl; Stanley Cup finals; Austrian Grand Prix; Army-Navy football game; Philadelphia Eagles playoff game; Indy 500.
To my left, are two windows. These windows don’t just look outside. They look out over the Hudson River, across to the Palisades in New Jersey, the several-mile long cliffs that stretch along the western side of the Hudson. My dream – sunsets over water – fulfilled.
BUT … where I wrote The Sacred Cipher during that year of Saturdays was in a dark corner of our bedroom in our apartment at The Bowery Mission where the windows, if you could see out of them, only looked across a space of four feet to a brick wall.
We moved into this apartment 10 months ago. And I have bookshelves … and windows … and a river. God is good!
What kind of activities to you like to do that help you relax and step away from your deadlines for a bit?
Penn State football … Phillies baseball … Yankees baseball … Penn State football … did I say Penn State football? Going out on our date nights with my wife, Andrea. Usually Friday nights, it’s the time we get to sit and talk. Any kind of vacation. Laughing with my accountability brothers. And, most precious and valuable, any time with my children.
A sports nut--LOVE IT! Briefly take us through your process of writing a novel—from conception to revision.
You give me too much credit. I sit in a chair, staring at an LCD screen. I put my fingers on the keyboard in my lap. And the story tells itself through my fingers. Really, that’s the way it is.
I do research, both online and at the huge Humanities and Social Sciences Library on Bryant Park in New York City. And I love that part of the work.
But, the writing? I don’t have a plan (sorry to all of you who labor over plot outlines and build fully-formed character personalities). I have a story, and I try to tell the story … or let the story tell me and I tell you.
I was a journalist for 22 years – 15 years as a sportswriter. When you cover a game, any kind of game, you have a very short deadline in which to file that story. An hour if you’re lucky. Sometimes as little as 15 minutes. So you get used to telling the story through your fingers. Not too much thinking. Just try to figure out the story of the game, or the athletes, and tell the story to the best of your ability in the time allowed. Then, the next day, you get to do it all over again. And, just as an aside, don’t make any mistakes.
That is the learned skill I bring to novel writing. I have an idea what the story is going to be, some understanding of the people who are playing in that story, and then I sit down to write the story. And it tells me what to do and where it’s going.
Conception to revision – that’s about the way it goes.
Pretty lame, eh?
What is the first book you remember reading and what made it special?
A great question. I wish I had an answer. See spot run. Does that count?
Absolutely! Who doesn't remember Spot? :-) What are a few of your favorite books (not written by you) and why are they favorites?
I’ve always loved the classic American authors – Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald – particularly Steinbeck. That guy was a wizard with words. As a kid, I read every Fu Manchu mystery. As a college student, every James Bond thriller and the required Lord of the Rings trilogy, including the prequel The Hobbit. In between, Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes … you get the drift.
Today, I love Dennis Lehane’s work – particularly his latest – The Given Day. I think he’s become a lyrical writer. And my son, Matt, has hooked me into both Stephen King and (more my style) Cormack McCarthy.
Sprinkle into that adrenalin mix some historical biographies and/or autobiographies (Mornings on Horseback By David McCoullough).
And lots of contemporary thriller writers, like Joel Rosenberg.
How do you think reading the work of others helps you as a writer?
Jealousy is a great motivator.
No, I think it’s like being an athlete (yeah, another sports analogy) watching another athlete perform. You can enjoy the grace of a cross-over dribble, the courage of staring down a blitz, the guts of going full-out past the warning track, the insanity of taking a corner at 180 miles per hour.
And you can aspire to do it as well. Even in your dreams.
What do you wish you’d known early in your career that might have saved you some time and/or frustration in writing? In publishing?
Don’t make the mistake to think somebody else has the answer. That there is some magic formula for writing that those on the inside know, but they won’t tell you.
There are as many theories about writing and style requirements as there are books about writing. And most of the teachers I’ve listened to at writers conferences all believe their way is the best (right?) way. Understand, this is not a science. There is not one formula that works. Sure, there are some basic expectations for content and presentation but – hey, down to it, it’s all about the writing.
So, write. Write a lot. Write all the time. Write until you’re sick of it. And then keep on writing until your characters begin to talk back to you. Then follow their advice.
How much marketing do you do? What have you found that particularly works well for you?
What I’ve been trying is a regular newsletter (mailing list of about 250) that I started nearly a year before the book came out. I’ve got a blog, which I visit very infrequently. Honest, I don’t know how these folks who are on Facebook all the time and have these extraordinary blog sites – I don’t know how they do it. It’s a struggle to find time to write.
When the book came out, my wife, Andrea, and I went and visited every Barnes & Noble store in New York City (we’re still working on the outer boroughs). I went in and signed the store stock (they put these cool little green stickers on them ‘autographed by author’ or something like that) and then we stood outside the entryway to the store and handed out Sacred Cipher postcards to the people entering – asked them to consider buying my book. Probably time to do that again.
I’ve also asked people on my mailing list if they would like to receive postcards – 10 stamped and 10 without stamp – that they can pass out to friends, family, church, businesses, whatever. I got 5,000 postcards from Kregel Publications and we’ve probably distributed 3,500 by now.
Just did a taped radio interview in Missouri … I’m going to the major scene locations in Manhattan (Collector’s Club; the library on Bryant Park; the Old Town bar) to see if they are willing to do some kind of fundraising promotion with the book. We did a fundraiser in our church for two villages in Rwanda where our church body is sponsoring over 1,000 kids through World Vision – sold 36 books and donated $180 to the Rwanda ministry. And it’s time to go talk to the folks at our local library.
I have no idea how it’s working. My first book only came out at the end of July. So I have no idea what works or doesn’t work.
Tell us what we have to look forward to in the future. What new projects are you working on?
Well, only God knows when the next one will be out.
My first book, Jacob’s Portion, was a necessary soul cleansing, written by a journalist who had no idea what book writing was all about. It’s still in a drawer, it’s on life support and needs organ transplants to make it viable. Perhaps someday.
I’ve “finished” (Hah!) my second novel, Hunger’s Ransom, which my publisher, Kregel Publications, has seen and for which they’ve suggested some significant editing and story shaping. It’s a good yarn, set against the back drop of the world food crisis.
But what I’m really committed to at this time is the sequel to The Sacred Cipher. I’m about one-third of the way through, a work-in-progress that is titled, at the moment, Scorpion Pass. This one is a lot of fun, too. It’s writing itself … just like I enjoy.
Do you have any parting words of advice?
Writing is a lot like life. Enjoy the journey. And let God handle the details. I said that.
Good judgment comes from experience; and experience comes from bad judgment. Somebody else said that.
“A problem can never be solved from the level at which it was created.” Einstein said that. Think about it. It covers a whole lot of ground.
Thanks for reading!!!
Want more? Check out Terry's book trailer, then leave a comment and let us know what you think!
Missy Tippens is a pastor’s wife and mom of three. After ten years of pursuing her dream, she made her first sale of a full-length novel to Steeple Hill Love Inspired. She still pinches herself to see if it really happened! Her debut novel, Her Unlikely Family, was a 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year contest finalist and is now available in large print from Thorndike. His Forever Love was a June 2009 release, and A Forever Christmas is on the shelves now! You can find Missy at herwebsite.
WRITING PARTNERS
If you see the title of this post and are wanting to learn about collaborating with another writer, I hope you won’t be disappointed. You see, the writing partner I’m talking about is the little black and white fur ball you see curled up at my feet in this photo. :)
I’m sure Ane will be jealous. If her dog sat at her feet, the bones would be crushed. So I feel very blessed to have a dog who’s a little neurotic and likes to be glued to my side. He’s also cold natured and likes the contact with human warmth.
So my dog, Duke, is part of my “office.” And speaking of my office… I know that previous guests have shared photos of their work space. I was so relieved when Robin Caroll shared hers on June 24, 2009. She shared that she does her best work when surrounded by a mess. I have to admit I felt much better about myself after seeing the photo of her desk. It looked so similar to my work area—my couch.
My real desk is in a part of the basement that doesn’t even have a window. And I haven’t sat at that desk ever since I got my first laptop. (Bless my dad for that gift!) So now I work on the sectional sofa in the family room. It’s quiet during the day while the kids are at school. But even when I work in the afternoon and evening, I love to work with the action all around me. My children know they have to actually tap me on the shoulder (or in extreme cases grab my face with both hands!) to get my attention. They know when mom is off in her fictional world.
I love that feeling, of being transported so far away that I’m living in the world of my characters. That’s when my fingers just fly over the keys, and ideas burst into my head more quickly than I can type. Of course, I have days where I’m in that fictional world, but it’s like every word I type has to be dragged out of me kicking and screaming. But what a sense of accomplishment to finally get the words out and onto the page, and to see a scene take shape—one that may have been very difficult to write but that takes the story in a direction I love.
Writing is tough, but it’s pure joy as well. Especially with a warm pooch sitting on your feet or laying his head on your knee. And even Duke knows he has to give a few yaps to get my attention when he needs to go out. All in a day’s work for the world’s best writing partner.
Sarah Radcliffe's quiet Christmas back in her hometown will be lost if she agrees to direct the church's Christmas pageant. But when she meets two little boys determined to gain their father's attention, Sarah agrees to help. Then she discovers that the dad in question is Gregory Jones, the man she loved and lost. The single dad is working himself to the bone to give his boys the Christmas of their dreams, when all they want is some family time. Time that includes a new mommy. If Sarah can learn to open her heart, she may receive the most wonderful present of all—a family of her own.
Libby Fischer Hellmann's sixth crime fiction novel, DOUBLEBACK, was released in October, 2009, by Bleak House Books. In it PI Georgia Davis is paired with video producer and single mother Ellie Foreman, the protagonist of Libby's other 4-book series. Libby also writes short stories and edited the acclaimed anthology CHICAGO BLUES. She lives in the Chicago area. More about her at www.libbyhellmann.com.
How long did it take you to get published?
From the time I started writing seriously, it took about 5 years – those years included 3 unpublished novels. The 4th one I wrote was the one that got published.
Do you think an author is born or made?
Made, for the most part. I believe in the proposition that writing well is 95% craft, which can be learned, and 5% inspiration or talent, which can’t be. But I do think a writer needs to have a love of language and a good grasp of grammar. Most writers also love to read, which is how I started. What is the first book you remember reading?
It was something about a little girl and a train. I used to make my mother take me to the library to get it – repeatedly. That was followed by Blueberries for Sal. I still love “plink, plink.”
What common qualities do you find in the personalities of published authors?
As I said above, a love of language, and, in my genre, a love of story and suspense. The authors I know are also remarkably unpretentious and generous.
How do you know if you have a seemingly “stupid” book premise that is doomed to fail versus one that will fly high?
I don’t believe there are any stupid premises… just ones that are less exciting than others. When I hear the premise for a book, I know instantly whether it has possibilities. There’s just something that captures my imagination – that makes me aware how many different directions the story could go. However, having said that, there are often premises that sound trite or unoriginal that end up being quite fresh and appealing because of the execution. It all depends on the writer’s voice and style.
What is the theme of your latest book?
Doubleback is a thriller that explores what happens when quasi-military groups try to duck accountability for their behavior. It also explores how easy it is to game the system, as well as the contrast between two very different women and how they manage to work together. My last book, Easy Innocence, was quite different. It examined peer pressure among suburban high school girls, and showed how far they would go in order to be accepted.
At what point did you stop juggling suggestions and critiques and trust yourself?
Great question. I actually don’t believe I’ve reached that point; although I do read other peoples’ manuscripts and I see how far I’ve come. I’m very much aware of authenticity in my characters, and try very hard to make sure they are advancing the plot in a way that’s believable and credible. And I am in a writing group. Our “guideline” in critiquing each other is that if something in the plot or character development “stops” us, then we should point it out. I would guess that 9 times out of 10, I take the feedback. Simply put, I figure that if it stopped them, it might stop readers too. And the last thing I want is readers tossing my book across the room, complaining, “Oh that would never happen.”
Are takeaway messages (in your book) important to you?
Generally, yes. Crime fiction is an excellent way to explore social issues without preaching. I love a story that gives me more than I expected.
When do you know you’ve got the finished product and it’s your best effort?
Never. I’d keep revising forever. Editing is my favorite part of writing. The only thing that ends the process is a deadline.
Any anecdotes about the research or writing of your books?
So many.. where to start? Here’s one. When I was writing Easy Innocence, my daughter was a sophomore in high school, and I needed help with teenage fashions, accessories, and toys. I asked her if she’d help, and she said, “Under one condition.” “What’s that?” I asked cautiously, expecting demands for a car, cash, or other goodies. “You have to dedicate the book to me,” she said. “Not to my brother. Just me.” You see, she has a brother, and in the past, I’ve dedicated by books to them both – together. That was the easiest bargain I’ve ever made.
How would you pitch this book to your intended audience?
Doubleback pairs two women (my series protagonists) in a cross-country thriller that starts with the kidnapping of a little girl and ends with drug smuggling, private security contractors, and illegal immigrants.
I’m sure a lot of people out there know the answer to this question, but I’m not one of them. All I’ve been able to ascertain is that her first name was Flora, middle initial E, and she was married to someone named Giles Whiting. More pertinent is the fact that in 1963, having a lot of money and a keen interest in literature, she established the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation. Headquartered in New York City, the Foundation is dedicated to the support of the humanities and of creative writing.
In what ways does the Foundation provide this support? I can answer that one.
First, through grants to scholars studying the humanities. Select graduate students from seven universities – Bryn Mawr, University of Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and Yale – receive yearly grants from the Whiting Foundation to support them while they work on their dissertations.
Second, through paid sabbaticals and research fellowships to junior faculty at Baruch, Brooklyn, and Kenyon Colleges. This gives outstanding teachers a better chance for the fulfilling academic careers usually associated with those who can commit themselves to research.
Third, and what we’re here to talk about today, through the annual Whiting Writers' Awards. This program grants $50,000 each to ten emerging writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and plays.
These awards are based on a writer’s accomplishment and promise. Candidates are proposed by nominations from across the U.S., and winners are then chosen by a selection committee. Both nominators and selectors serve anonymously. Since its inception in 1985, the program has awarded more then $6 million to 250 poets, fiction and nonfiction writers, and playwrights.
The purpose of the Whiting Award is to identify exceptional new writers who have not yet made their mark in the literary culture. The grant provides recipients an opportunity to devote themselves fully to writing for a period of time, helping them to establish their careers. The recognition of winning also has a significant impact.
Most winners have published one book, but some published more than one, and some had never yet published in book form, before winning the award. Established writers were sometimes recognized in the early years, but now the Foundation focuses entirely on writers who are relative unknowns.
The nominators are literary professionals – mostly writers, but sometimes teachers, editors, agents, critics, bookstore owners, and others as well. The roster is different each year, though some have served more than once. These nominators are contacted by the Foundation and asked to nominate one emerging writer of exceptional talent and promise.
The director of the Foundation’s Writers’ Program appoints six or seven writers of distinction to serve as the selection committee, which meets four times over the course the year. First, they select new nominators. Then they read the work of the nominees – each selector reads every nominee’s work, no matter what the genre – and meet three more times to narrow the field to ten. Their recommendations are presented to the Board of Trustees for ratification.
All nominators and selectors serve anonymously, so they will not be subject to pressure. This also enables them to speak candidly about the writers under consideration.
In making their selection, the committee must rely on their own expertise and experience. The definitions of emerging and promising vary from one genre to another, and from one individual to another within any one genre. Therefore the issue is looked at on a case-by-case basis with no measurable standard such as age or publication record.
On October 28 the Foundation announced the ten winners of the 2009 award: The fiction-writing recipients include short story writer Vu Tran, born in Vietnam and now living in Las Vegas; Adam Johnson, whose debut short story collection, Emporium, the setting of which is described by New York Times critic Michiko Kakatuni as being “somewhere between Kurt Vonnegut’s sci-fi empire and that wild and crazy land of weirdos limned in T. Coraghessan Boyle's stories;" Nami Mun, author of Miles From Nowhere, a 1980s urban odyssey in which a 12-year-old Korean-American leaves her troubled Bronx family for the life of a New York City runaway; and Salvatore Scibona, whose novel The End was a National Book Award finalist in 2008. The roster of this year’s $50,000 winners is rounded out with poets Jay Hopler, Jericho Brown and Joan Kane; playwright Rajiv Joseph; and nonfiction authors Michael Meyer and Hugh Raffles.
A complete list of all recipients can be found on the Foundation’s website.
As a Novel Journey reader, you might never win such a prestigious (and profitable) award, but you do have an opportunity to participate in our new awards program, OUT OF THE SLUSH PILE, Novel Journey’s Fifteen Minutes of Fame Contest. If you haven’t already made plans to enter, please check out the details.
In 2010 we will have twelve monthly winners, and in January 2011, we will acknowledge the grand prize, best-of-the-year award winner. So get those unpublished novels polished up, download the entry form,and email your submissions to NovelJourneyContest@gmail.com. We’ve already received some entries, but we’re looking for yours!
Marcia Laycock tries to write, in spite of her trouble focusing, from Alberta Canada. She has won awards for both her non-fiction and fiction writing and her work has been broadcast on national radio. Her second novel is in process and her devotional book, Spur of the Moment, has just gone into a second print run. Visit her website - www.vinemarc.com
