In the Meantime

What to do, what to do…

I’m in that limbo where I’ve queried several independent publishers but probably shouldn’t start writing something new. As soon as I begin a new book that’ll be my focus for a couple of months, whereas if I get the nod from a publisher that’ll be my top priority. Not that I can’t put the writing on hold.

I think my reluctance is that if I do start writing and nothing happens with publishing, I’ll be pleasantly distracted and then it’ll be late summer and I’ll have four books to publish instead of three. I mean, I guess that’s a good problem to have. The alternative is to putter around and make no progress on writing while I wait for responses. Or in what I’m guessing will be the case, non-responses.

I could do what I’ve done before and write a short story in the world of one of my books. Maybe I should do that again since it’s a nice asset to have in my back pocket for someday when I do a mailing list and offer incentives for people to sign up. Yeah, that’s the ticket…

Series Pt. 3

What I posted the other day about the second option for writing a series, where each book is somewhat of a standalone in a continuous universe, got me thinking a little more. Mainly in the sense that a series like that is much like a television series. Yes, I said ‘television’ instead of ‘streaming.’ I’ve been around for more than a couple of decades, so deal with it.

I think there’s an inherent drawback for television that’s not always so in books. In television shows, conflicts have to be resolved within the time limit of the episode. In sitcoms, not only does it have to be resolved, but everything has to go back to the way it was when the episode started. That rule is still there for dramas, but you also know the main character’s not going to die in a hail of gunfire, especially when the show is named after him or her. That limitation is less of a concern in books where you don’t have to worry about an actor or that you’re violating their contract by writing them out of the story.

Not to say you can’t include changes and character growth in television shows. Heck, that’s what makes them interesting. One show that comes to mind is Cheers, which we’re rewatching. Does Sam Malone end the show’s long run the same guy as when he started? Somewhat, yes. He ends up still owning the bar, and still single. Arguably, though, he’s a changed man because the ups and downs of the previous eleven seasons have shown him the value of his friends and what the pub means to him and them. He wouldn’t have understood those feelings in the first season.

How that concept translates to books, or doesn’t, is an interesting thought exercise. Just like I’m still pondering the idea of writing a series, I can continue pondering the overall concept.

Series Pt. 2

See what I did there? I made that post about writing a series into a series. Tricky, huh?

Continuing thoughts from that previous blog entry, I’m not thinking of writing a series just for the sake of writing a series. Writing and editing a book is not something done on a whim. It’s a commitment. And writing multiple books with an ongoing story, and presumably ongoing characters, is a multi-year ordeal. I don’t want to get a few books down the road and decide I’d rather be writing something else.

Which means mapping out the story arc. Gosh, that sounds like a lot of work. Only kidding, I usually have a general outline in my head and sometimes on paper when I write a book. But with a multi-book series I need to have more guardrails and there are a couple of ways to go about it.

One way is that the series is an ongoing narrative, kind of like life. It can be a single-threaded story or there can be multiple threads all contributing to the overall tale. Think Lord of the Rings. Even though it’s a series of only three books, each one is an entry in a single overall story.

Another option is to write books that could stand alone but all exist in the same universe. Oftentimes this type of series has personal growth or slight changes to characters over the course of multiple books. For example, one series I’ve read is based on a private detective. The world around him is consistent, such as his neighbors, the bars and restaurants he frequents, his parents, etc. But he also goes from a single guy to being interested in a cute neighbor to marrying her. And other neighbors help him with surveillance, get new jobs, and take on more responsibility in their own personal growth. So even if the series I write isn’t a continuous storyline it still needs to have some changes over the course of the books.

Which is better? Depends on the story I want to tell. I’m still mulling it over.

Series

I’m kicking the tires on some ideas floating around in my head for a series. I haven’t landed firmly on anything yet but I have some intriguing ideas.

Why a series? It’s the literary equivalent of binge-watching a streaming show. I’ve found several series using my Kindle Unlimited in the last few years where I ran through 15-20 books quickly. Not that I didn’t read series of books before electronic ink, but now it seems to be easier to keep going.

For example, when I read the Lost Fleet series a few years back, I did most all of it through the library. And that was hit or miss. Not knocking libraries, but you’re at the mercy of other readers. We have a couple of libraries in our area and I’d have to find which one had the next book available and reserve it there for pickup. Pretty sure somewhere in there I ordered a book since it wasn’t available, but that only happened once or twice, I think.

With a KU subscription now I just click the ‘Read Now’ button for the next book in the series and keep going. Occasionally, I have to log in and return some books, but that’s no big deal. I’ve read series about a team of assassins, a detective into film noir, a generational space ship, and a group of Earth soldiers trying to keep aliens from knowing we exist. Those are the ones that pop into my head on short review.

I think it’d be fun to write multiple books in the same universe, with compelling characters and the option for readers to binge. I’ll have some more thoughts in the next post.

Prologue

As I’ve sending off queries to independent publishers, I double-checked the manuscript of First to make sure I’d left it formatted correctly. In doing so, I read the first few pages and it made me wonder again if a prologue was a good move.

When I wrote Assignment Day, the idea started with the prologue, and in particular the last line, which set the foundation for the whole story. I have no waffling about the prologue in that book. TBH I’ve struggled mightily with the prologue for First, though. Which may be the sign that it shouldn’t be there and I should rip it out.

The reason I started the book with that particular prologue is because it puts the reader in the middle of the action right away. The prologue is short, less than a page. And it gives a hint of what’s to come later in the book without giving away too many details. See, when I write it out the reasoning like that I want to keep it.

But then I look at the negatives. Does it really add anything to the narrative? Plus, I like the first line of Chapter 1, which is: I spent most of my first day as an astronaut trying to find the nearest restroom. It’s not Dickens or Melville, but I think it’s pretty good since it sets up several things right out of the gate. To start with, the narrator is telling the story in first-person narration. Next, he’s just starting the journey to being an astronaut, but what kind? Is he going to the Moon? Or Mars? Or someplace else? We don’t know but we’ll find out. And finally, the wry comment about the restroom is his main takeaway from the first day on the job and not something glamorous. Why did he need to use the restroom so much? Medical condition? Nerves? Well, as we find out in the next paragraph, it’s because he drank too much coffee. I think many of can identify with that.

So, with all that floating around in my mind, to prologue or not to prologue in this case? I finished the book over a year ago and I still go back and forth about it. And I still don’t know which is the right way to go.

Ongoing

This week I’ve been pitching my books to independent publishers. It’s much like the agent search I did last year in that many of them want a synopsis and pitch letter. I’m mainly throwing Next Time out there, and First as well to a couple of publishers. I also thought about putting Assignment Day into the mix and realized I don’t have a synopsis or pitch for it yet. Guess I better get to work on that.

My thought right now is to give it a couple of months for replies. I don’t expect instantaneous answers but I also can’t wait until the end of summer. My goal this year is to publish books, not just write them, and we’re nearing the midpoint. Time to get crackin’.

Interesting

We live in interesting times. No big revelation there, right?

Think of the last 600 years (actually a few decades less). Since Gutenberg invented that printing press we’ve gone from hand-copied books to electronic ink. The ability to own your own Bible, and other books beyond that, was not always an option. In the 21st century the printed word is everywhere, from the library to the airport news stand to the laptop to the Kindle. It’s an age of wonder.

Think about the last 200 years (actually a few decades more). Inflammatory pamphlets were printed in small batches and distrubuted to readers pre-Revolutionary War in what became the United States. That morphed into large-scale publishers a century later, and really snowballed by the middle of the 20th century. The scenery changed as publishers came, went, consolidated, and some persevered.

Now we live in a time where anybody can be a publisher. We’re no longer reliant on movable type or small-scale distribution systems or behemoth publishers. I can publish my own books, both electronically and in print, and I have. Independent, hybrid, and traditional publishers all play in the same space and have their reasons for existing and thriving. Think of how boring the world would be if everything still funneled through the big houses. Instead, people like me have a chance to be heard. It truly is an interesting time to be alive.

Back To It

I spent the last week or so on vacation, and that included leaving my laptop at home. I was originally planning on taking it and doing a few things related to writing but ended up taking my work laptop instead. Since I couldn’t take both I had to leave behind the one I use for writing.

It ended up being a good thing to hop off the writing bus for a few days. I’m a big believer in giving my brain a rest when it needs it, and this was a prime time to do so. The last time I did this was our trip to Ireland last October, and I came out of that with the idea for a new book, which turned into Next Time. I don’t know if that same creative blast will happen again and kind of doubt it, but at least my brain a break.

On vacation I went to a wedding, read a lot, watched some Stanley Cup playoff games on TV, and sat outside by a lake for a couple of days. I thought about writing a little, but not too much. I have some ideas I’m tossing around for my next book, but first I need to take care of publishing the books I have waiting to be unleashed on the world. I’m going to finish up the synopsis I was working on, get that out to some independent publishers, and see what happens. Vacation time is over.

Synopsis

I was looking through a list of independent publishers yesterday and determined I need to go through the routine of writing a synopsis for the new book. And a hook for a query letter.

Those were requirements for last year when I spent the better part of two months trying to find an agent. They’re requirements for this effort, too, and so yesterday I started writing the synopsis for Next Time.

I have to say, it’s an interesting exercise. Summarizing the relevant plot points and leaving out others makes me think about the relevance of each chapter to the whole, and if they serve the end goal of the story. That’s been a topic in our home as we we’ve been watching a show where we’ve been treated to a C-story (doesn’t even make it to B-level) that was clearly scabbed into the short series to serve as a nod to diversity and does absolutely nothing to advance the overall story. It’s so noticeable and distracting that it takes you out of the experience. I’d shrug my shoulders and say it’s just the world we live in, but beyond that it’s just bad storytelling. Anyway, examining the story points in my book is another chance to make sure I wrote a good story without any fluff.

And try my best to avoid bad storytelling, a concept writers of a popular streaming show don’t seem to understand.

Another

As astute readers might have noted, a couple of days ago I completed my editing of Next Time. That’s three - yes, three - books I’ve finished writing in the last 21 months.

After finishing the final run-through, I went for a run. Naturally, my thoughts were about the book and what to do next. I’m not ready to start writing another one yet when I have several in need of publishing. My thoughts bounced around and I came up with what I thought was a great idea: publish a sample on this website.

So, I did. I spent a little time Saturday afternoon going through the first chapter one more time to make sure it read well, and decided I should post three chapters instead of only one. I think that gives a nice glimpse into the characters and where the story’s headed. I’ll leave it up for a month or two and gauge how much interest there is and what kind of feedback I receive.

With three books ready to unleash on the world, what’s next? We’re almost a third of the way through the year and I’ve made no progress on publishing. My plan is to try again with a hybrid publisher, explore some independent publishers, and if nothing comes of those, form my own imprint and self-publish. I’ve done it before and I can do it again. And this time resources are much more available. Let’s see where the next few weeks take me.

NPC

By writing background sketches for all my characters, I’ve tried to avoid creating NPCs. If you’re not familiar with the concept, it’s a video gaming term referring to non-player characters, or NPCs. In other words, the people in the crowd on the sidewalk, or the passengers on the subway car you’re riding in. Characters with no personality - they’re just there to make the virtual world realistic.

That’s exactly the kind of character I don’t want to inhabit my book. Even if the character is only in the novel for a page or two, I want them to have their own personality. I was thinking of this because my edits yesterday were to give a character more of a individuality and maybe even a little redemption by the end. The character is a Federal agent, and let’s just say it’d be way too easy to make him out of a stereotype.

I think I’d given him a distinct personality but by adding a few lines of dialogue here and there plus an additional scene where he intervenes on behalf of the main character, I was able to add depth. He wasn’t a NPC before the changes, but now he’s definitely not. If a character could thank me for making him better, I’m sure this one would.

Adjustments

There was one part of Next TIme that was bothering me: a chapter with a major confrontation that gets resolved too easily. On Monday evening the way to resolve it appeared in my brain.

I paused my read-aloud of the book to do some rework. This involved routing the characters involved down a different path and actually bringing in a new character for a short scene. Today I’ll finish the changes and go back to my regularly scheduled editing.

The reason I mention this is because those nagging doubts I feel about my writing are usually correct. I knew something wasn’t right but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. This is where an editor would have been helpful. I also think this is an area where experience comes into play. I could have left that scene as-is and it would have been okay. Not great, but okay. With this detour and a couple of writing sessions, I think it’s going to be great. And that’s what I want.

The Best Part

What is my favorite part of the writing process? Is it the writing itself, or something like editing, or holding a finished product in my hands?

Maybe it depends on when you ask me the question. Sometimes it’s when I figure out a point or scene that makes the story a lot better, one of those moments that feels like you just did something no one else has ever done. As I’ve written about before, those moments also seem to happen more frequently when I’m running. Which means I get to combine a runner’s high and that feeling of awesomeness.

Sometimes it’s when I’ve finished writing a book and that moment of completeness washes over me. It’s a momentary feeling, because I know I still have to edit, re-edit, rewrite some pieces, edit some more, and do a final edit.

The reason I asked myself about the best part of writing is because last week when I spent most of a Saturday editing Next Time, I really got caught up in it. Not the editing, so much, but the story itself. It wasn’t like I was reading something I’d never read (obviously) but I did want to keep reading it. The story propelled me along and I didn’t want to stop. It was a good feeling.

So, for that day, the best part of writing was reading what I wrote. Check back with me another day.

Progress

Progress? I’ve made none, at least in regard to publishing my books.

I got a ‘no’ email from an independent publisher yesterday, which I find interesting because they’re one of the (unnamed) examples I gave in my previous post. It’s probably just as well since I want to be with a publisher who puts out a quality product.

I have probably another week or so left in my read-aloud of Next Time, and then I’ll need to do some serious pondering. I’ll probably look at more independent publishers and send some queries, but I’ll also need to think about self-publishing again.

If I go the latter route, at least this time around there are services like Book Baby that offer packages to help with some of the marketing. Before when I self-published it was mainly for my family and friends to be able to read my books, but I think the ones I’ve written recently deserve a shot at a larger audience. Not that the others didn’t, but this time I’m expanding my scope. Dream big, they said. Shoot for the moon, they said.

Actually, nobody said that. At least to me. About writing. But I’m going to anyway.

Shift

I am so happy for independent and self-publishers. Most of what I read now comes from those sources, mostly through my Kindle Unlimited subscription. The shift in publishing has been a game changer. And now you can say, duh, thanks for the insightful comments, Captain Obvious.

My point in this post isn’t really about the shift in publishing, but about the shift in quality. Look, I’m not perfect and every time I read through one of my manuscripts I find errors. That’s because I haven’t had a proofreader go through them yet. Hiring a proofreader costs money, and in a lot of cases it’s clear the author or publisher didn’t fund the effort.

For example, I’m reading a series right now that is a great story with entertaining characters and witty dialogue. Oh, and tons of run-on sentences, lots of thoughts connected by a comma and quite distracting. Like what I just did in that previous sentence. I picked up on the pattern early on in the first book and decided to keep forging ahead. I haven’t regretted reading the series so far, but it makes me curious how an author can get thousands of 4-5 star reviews all while ignoring the basics of grammar. Good for them.

However, in the past six months or so I’ve picked up two independently-published books, one in physical form, and I couldn’t get past the first ten pages. Spelling and grammar catastrophes is what those were. It is rare for me to not finish a book, and to have it happen twice recently is a first-time event. Mayber the books were actually good? I’ll never know because the author didn’t have a copy editor and proofreader help them out. I admire their will to write, but in some cases we have to acknowledge our blind spots.

And it makes me wonder when an independent publisher releases a book in that state. We don’t want reviewers and critics looking down on independent publishers as second or third-tier; let’s not give them an extra reason to do so.

Saturday Editing

I spent a lot of the day Saturday editing Next Time. I really didn’t plan on taking most of a weekend day to do so, but I was enjoying the story and didn’t want to quit. I hope that’s a good sign.

I’m giving the book one more runthrough to see how it flows after the changes I made the past couple of weeks. I’ll probably need to make some tweaks, and of course I’ve found numerous missing words or typos. What I really want to make sure of is that I haven’t made something redundant or contradicted something else in the book.

For example, there’s a scene where a minor character asks the main character how many times he’s met someone. He says it’s three times, but I honestly couldn’t remember for sure since I’d added some scenes. So, I took the time to go back and count the appearances. The last thing I want to do is take the reader out of the book with such a simple error.

Once I finish this editing run, I’ll do one more, reading it aloud to myself. My own private audiobook, if you will.

Saturday turned out different than I’d planned, but in a good way.

Good Problem

Well, crap.

I have another book idea and it’s hijacking my brain.

This is a good problem to have and I can’t complain. The reason I started this post that way is because I already have a book I’m planning on working on next. The same thing happened when I was ready to start on said book but my efforts were derailed by the appearance of Next Time in my thoughts. Gotta be honest, this feels a bit like deja vu.

I have a premise and a main character, but what I don’t have yet is a plot. That’s going to take some additional thought and then I have to prioritize. Does the new idea take precedence over the previous one? If the new idea does bubble to the top, why? What makes it better for me to write than the other? And don’t forget the fundamental questions. Why write this book in the first place? What’s its purpose? What is the reason for it to exist?

TBD.

Writing Software

No, this is not a post about writing software code, although that is something I did for a living a few years back. No, it’s about what I use to write books and do my editing.

First up, let me state there are a number of good writing programs out there. Depending on what you’re writing, it might make sense to invest a little money into one. Especially if it’s a non-fiction book where you’re going to have a lot of citations or pictures.

You’re probably going to be disappointed when I say I use Microsoft Word for all my writing. How boring. And how much of a corporate sellout is that?

Before you unfavorite this site, let me just say that I get all that. Here’s my thought process: when I’m writing I don’t want the software to get in the way. In fact, years ago I wrote several books longhand and then typed them up because I didn’t want to get caught up in what the word processor was doing to take me out of the creative mode.

I used Scrivener for a time about 7-8 years ago, but I didn’t really need what it offered. It helped in moving chapters around, but other than that Word does all the same stuff for the most part, and does it the way I’m used to. I liked Scrivener and maybe someday I’ll use it again, but for now I’m keeping it simple.

Waiting

As Mr. Petty said, the waiting is the hardest part.

Here we are, now into the fourth month of the year, and honestly I haven’t made a whole lot of progress toward getting my books published. Some of that is me, some of it is waiting on others. That’s the hard part.

Last year I spent way too much time trying to see if an agent would be interested in me and my book. This year I’ve finished editing one book and will be done with another by the end of the month. I’d like to take time right now to dig into the publishing part, but I don’t want to lose momentum on editing Next Time. So, I think I will finish that and then take whatever time I need to get my books published before I start on the next.

I’d like to be further along in getting these published, no lie. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that I don’t always get to pick the timing of what I want, and when it finally does happen, it’s at the perfect time. I’ll have to keep telling myself that.

Too Easy

What am I working on this week? Glad you asked.

I’m reworking some chapters of Next Time just a bit. I’d made it too easy for the narrator in the last section of the book and decided he needed more conflict.

Was the previous story okay? Yeah, it was, but everything fell into place too easily. That’s not why people read stories. They want to see the characters struggle and come out on top. In other words, they have to earn it. I could have left the last several chapters alone but if I wasn’t happy then readers wouldn’t be.

The ending chapter is fine, although I think it needs to be more vivid in tone and setting. I’ll work on that in the coming week. For now, I have a little rewriting to do.