So you think that all a writer has to do is write that magical tome and then sit back and reap the rewards. You know the writing is sometimes tedious, often frustrating and even a little difficult, but, really–authors have nothing else to do. You can hardly wait to sign the copies, accept the accolades, and cash the cheques.
Now that all my writers are clawing the ceiling, let me tell the truth. Being a published author today is a full time job. We write, edit, rewrite, get critiques, rewrite–well, you know all that. But at the same time as an author is polishing her work, she needs to be doing a host of other things, a large part of which is preparing the world for the impending birth of her baby.
Indeed there is so much to do that I have struggled over and over to find a way to keep stuff from slipping into oblivion in my file drawers and out of my mind until I realize a deadline has passed or I’ve missed applying for another award.
A few weeks ago my very clever and well organized daughter who is a minimalist of the first order told me about something she discovered. Prior to her wonderful suggestion I used:
a small white board,
countless To Do sheets,
multi-coloured sticky notes,
my computer desktop to put current items, and
my iPad and iPhone for countless lists which could be easily transferred.
File folders didn’t really work because of the old adage out of sight, out of mind, plus my curious mind has spent a lifetime collecting valuable and extremely important bits of knowledge, so much so that I fear it is just running out of space. Things slip away.
from the KanBanFlow website at https://kanbanflow.com/.
On KanBanFlow’s site they have 4 columns but I chose to just use 3: I left out Do Today as most of my projects take a few days and In Progress seems to make better sense for me. Also they have shown how to use the board with several different teams which I did not need. Would be nice to have a staff, though!
Here’s yesterday’s version of my KanBanFlow chart and you can see the progress I’ve made. That is why I love this system. Tasks stay on the board for me to keep track of. The Done column has changed considerably. Yay!
I learned to use marker on the later notes so that I can read them from my desk.
Of course I still use the earlier methods but this latest one is a keeper. It’s helping me get caught up and organize my new ideas which are percolating a lot these days.
The Loyalist’s Wife, The Loyalist’s Luck, The Loyalist Legacy
I hate coffee. In my first year of university I sat in the cafeteria with a bunch of friends who were convinced I could learn to like it if only they fixed it the right way for me. They brought me black coffee, weak coffee, strong coffee, sugared coffee, coffee with cream, coffee with milk–you get the picture! I didn’t like any of it and the cafeteria staff didn’t like all the extra dishes they had to wash because of our testing.
Instead I’ve pretty much spent my life drinking weak tea a couple of times a month,–to be sociable, don’t you know?–lots of water, and way more Diet Coke than I ever should have. Still, I like tea a lot more than coffee.
What can coffee drinking possibly have to do with writing? Well, here’s the thing. All my life I’ve played with different writing forms. I’ve written narrative poetry and sonnets, short stories and novellas, descriptive paragraphs and song lyrics. I’ve even tried my hand at plays although I never got beyond the second page. Of course, love poems were a rite of passage for any girl in her teen years back in my day and probably still are although I’m a little old to speak for teenagers!
The point is, never did I contemplate writing a novel. I didn’t even know that idea was lurking in my overcrowded brain until my son asked if there was anything I wished I’d done so far in my life. “Write a novel,” I blurted, and the rest as they say is herstory.
A week later I started down my novel writing journey and haven’t actually looked back for ten years. In the beginning many new writers alongside me were writing short stories and forming critique groups to improve their work, all of them sure these were the right steps. I tried to follow along and have about fifteen pieces in my filing cabinet that were great fun to write but which didn’t begin to thrill me. I sent a few out into oblivion.
And that’s what it seemed like. Short stories just weren’t my thing. You see, I left my heart out of that writing and just as a soulless person is dull and lifeless so also were my stories. At the same time I reveled in researching my historical subject and writing my three pages a day for a year until I finally finished my first draft. I loved it. I thought it was great but my saner self knew about that little thing called revision. I did that for another four or five years.
How could I keep at that first book for the six years it took to bring it to publication?
Finally I had unearthed the thing that touched my joy spot deep inside. Writing those words about my character babies and their part in creating the country I live in today just seemed real. And worthwhile. Important, even. I learned so much that my conversation became peppered with exciting facts I’d dug up about our history as a country but also my own family history. Finding references to my great great great grandparents and using some of that in my novels has been a thrilling and enlightening experience not only for my readers (so they tell me) but also for me.
Were those early writing attempts of any use? Absolutely. I learned so much about cadence and word choice, rhythm and the lilt of my sentences, showing not telling, allowing my reader to fill in the blanks, and above all about listening to my varied characters for their individual truths. Were they like real people? Or were they flat?
Yesterday I was working with someone who is going to do a media sheet for me and my books. She left our Skype conversation for five minutes with instructions for me to write her some ideas about what I might talk about when interviewed. When she came back I’d written a couple of lovely (if I do say so myself!) paragraphs. I wasn’t exactly sure if she could use the points but she did! Every one of them. (I’ll be putting that sheet up on my website when we’re finished.)
I had to swallow my nervousness about being put on the spot like that and just write. And I could! All of those courses and conferences and critiques and rewrites made their mark.
Reading informs so much of our writing. As I get longer in the tooth (well, actually my dentist has shortened my front teeth, much to my dismay!) I’m more choosy about what books I keep reading through to the end. I now give a book about 50 pages and if it hasn’t hooked me by then, I toss it. Life is too short to read stuff that bores or confuses me. (My latest bugaboo is starting a new book and all the characters have similar sounding names: Ellen, Eleanor, Eileen, for example. I can’t keep them straight. Note to self: Name your characters with different sounding names: Ellen, Charmaine, Sue.)
Sticking to genres that I enjoy works for me, too. I have a good writer friend who writes horror/sci-fi/mystery mashup books and his audience loves them. Bravo, John! I didn’t want to review them, though, as I’m not a lover of that stuff so wouldn’t be able to do his books justice. Give me a great Sharon Kay Penman or even Bernard Cornwell and I’ll read right through to the end in no time.
In both reading and writing, then, I hope you’ll consider sticking to books and stories that work well for you. Your soul will thank you for it!
The Loyalist’s Wife, The Loyalist’s Luck, The Loyalist Legacy
Today is special because fellow Canadian author, Kristina Stanley, is here to talk about her fabulous app for writers. I first noticed Kristina in the blog world as she wrote her posts about and during her sailing journey with her husband. It just sounded so romantic and so “out there”! She loves dogs and writes tirelessly. And now she’s going to tell us about her app. Take it away, Kristina!
I’m very pleased to be invited onto Elaine’s blog to share my writing and editing journey. I’m an author who loves to edit, and I believe today’s author must also be their own structural editor.
The difficulty with editing is the time it takes and the cost of an editor. So what if I could speed up the process, spend less money, AND write better fiction?
This is the story of how I’m developing an app to help writers edit faster, for less money, and create a novel readers love.
What is the Feedback app?
The Feedback app will help writers turn a first draft into a great story by becoming their own big-picture editor.
With Feedback, you can focus on plot, character, and setting. You can evaluate on a scene-by-scene basis or on the overall novel structure. Feedback will show you the most important structural elements to work on first and guide you through the rewriting process.
Why a big-picture editing app for writers?
Creating Feedback began when I finished the first draft of my first novel. By then I’d read over 50 how-to-write and how-to-self-edit books. I’d taken writing courses and workshops, and had 100s of writing and rewriting tips swirling about in my head.
I knew I had to begin the editing process and improve the quality of my draft before sharing my work, but I didn’t know how to go about it.
My Worries:
How was I supposed to remember the torrent of advice and apply it to each scene? A spreadsheet, that’s how!
I created a spreadsheet with a chapter-by-chapter, scene-by-scene structure. Then I listed the different writing advice I needed to consider for EVERY scene. I ended up with over 75 “key elements of fiction”. I used the reports from the spreadsheet to visualize my novel.
Did Feedback Work For Me?
After the hard work of self-editing and rewriting my drafts, the high quality of my fiction was validated when my first two novels were shortlisted for prestigious crime writing awards and I landed my publisher (Imajin Books).
My first editor said: “If every manuscript was this good, my job would be so easy!”
The next exciting moment came when DESCENT, my first novel, hit #1 on Amazon’s hot new releases. I’ve since sold the German rights to Luzifer-Verlag for publication in Germany, and the audio rights to Auspicious Apparatus Press. Imajin Books also published BLAZE and AVALANCHE.
Building The Feedback App
I wanted to share my process, so other writers could benefit from an immediate approach to self-editing and rewriting first drafts. But who would want to use a spreadsheet? Perhaps a fun, fast, app that helps writers visualize and self-edit their novels would be better.
I formed a company called Feedback Innovations just to build this app. The prototype is being developed. We’re currently testing the app on my novels. Then we’ll reach out to beta testers in April.
Download our free eBook BIG-PICTURE Editing And 13 Key Elements Of Fiction and learn how big-picture editing is all about evaluating the major components of your story. We call these components the Key Elements Of Fiction. Our eBook shows you how to use the key elements of fiction to evaluate your story and become your own big-picture editor.
At Feedback Innovations, we believe the app will help authors turn their first draft into a great story.
Kristina’s Bio:
Kristina Stanley is the best-selling author of the Stone Mountain Mystery Series.
Her short stories have been published in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and The Voices From the Valleys anthology. She is the author of THE AUTHOR’S GUIDE TO SELLING BOOKS TO NON-BOOKSTORES.
She is the co-founder and CEO of Feedback Innovations, a company started to help writers rewrite better fiction. She loves the self-editing process and wants to help other writers learn how to do a structural edit on their own work.
If you’d like more self-editing tips, you can find out more about her and Feedback at www.FeedbackForFiction.com. Connect with her @FictionRewrite.
Descent Blurb:
When Kalin Thompson is promoted to Director of Security at Stone Mountain Resort, she soon becomes entangled in the high-profile murder investigation of an up-and-coming Olympic-caliber skier. There are more suspects with motives than there are gates on the super-G course, and danger mounts with every turn.
Kalin’s boss orders her to investigate. Her boyfriend wants her to stay safe and let the cops do their job. Torn between loyalty to friends and professional duty, Kalin must look within her isolated community to unearth the killer’s identity.
The Loyalist’s Wife, The Loyalist’s Luck, The Loyalist Legacy
Author Elaine Cougler. A 9-minute tv interview on Rogers TV’s program “Oxford County Living”. Thanks to John Payne for filming this at my home. Click on the image to watch.
The Loyalist’s Wife, The Loyalist’s Luck, The Loyalist Legacy
Of course we all know about the Ides of March, forever popularized by Shakespeare in his play, Julius Caesar, but there’s much more to think about for us mere mortal writers!
3 Striking Events Which Occurred on this date:
The Ides of March was Caesar’s death day and as such was a turning point in Rome’s history. The Republic was over. Hundreds of years later Shakespeare’s play immortalized both Caesar and “Beware the Ides of March.”
Czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate his throne in Russia on this date in 1917 bringing about the start of events which led to the Communist takeover in the U.S.S.R.
On this date in 1939, Germany occupied Czechoslovakia as the Second World War began to ramp up.
We could go on and on with examples of bad things which happened on March 15 (check out the link above for a few), but the point is without the wily William Shakespeare, the Ides of March just wouldn’t be a “thing”. We wouldn’t be making lists of happenings on this date because such an antiquated expression would have passed into near oblivion along with Caesar’s language–Latin–and his death date, too.
But a writer over four hundred years ago chose to have his whole play revolve around “Beware the Ides of March”. Because his writing was so erudite yet spoke to the people all those years ago and amazingly still does today we know about the word “Ides” and its place in the Roman calendar in Caesar’s time. Pretty cool.
What a lesson in word choice for us writers! Think about it. If Caesar’s line had been “Beware March 15th!” would it have had the same punch? Would it have pricked our curiosity and made us wonder just what it meant? No. We would have understood immediately and moved from that line to the next.
Instead, our brains stop and notice that expression. Many of us immediately look for its meaning but even those who don’t realize it’s something different. It’s part of the supernatural aura of a soothsayer or person who understands the supernatural who is warning Caesar. We notice.
We writers need to chose our words with the same thoughts about just what difference our choices can make to our stories. Even those who are not writers in the professional sense can make the same magic by picking words not just because they’re easy or because everyone else uses them, but rather because they underline our points, they invoke emotional responses and they stick a notion to our readers’ subconscious mind where it can be nurtured and grow. Oh, words can be so powerful!
As you read through this excerpt from the back cover of The Loyalist Legacy, pick out the words–verbs mostly–that have the most effect in painting the story. I think there are three or four that show the fear and futility of William and Catherine’s uncertain situation.
After the crushing end of the War of 1812, William and Catherine Garner find their allotted two hundred acres in Nissouri Township by following the Thames River into the wild heart of Upper Canada. On their valuable land straddling the river, dense forest, wild beasts, displaced Natives, and pesky neighbors daily challenge them. The political atmosphere laced with greed and corruption threatens to undermine all of the new settlers’ hopes and plans. William knows he cannot take his family back to Niagara but he longs to check on his parents from whom he has heard nothing for two years. Leaving Catherine and their children, he hurries back along the Governor’s Road toward the turn-off to Fort Erie, hoping to return home in time for spring planting.
Here is my list. Did you choose them? Others? crushing, allotted, wild, laced, threatens, longs, hoping.
This isn’t a right or wrong quiz but as writers we must look at each word we use and make sure it has the appropriate connotation for the feelings we are looking to create in our readers. “Fat” has a negative connotation and “plump” is more positive. They both describe the same condition but one is more palatable.
So today as you go about your busy life, think about Shakespeare and his word choice. Worked for him, why not for the rest of us? And beware the Ides of March!
The Loyalist’s Wife, The Loyalist’s Luck, The Loyalist Legacy
As I approach the ten-year anniversary of the beginnings of my writing journey, I can’t help but think of some of the crazy things I’ve had to research. Of course I expected to go digging for first-person accounts of the times and for just the exact details about battles and political chicanery back in the days of the American Revolution and afterwards, but looking up how to bleed a cow or just where Carolinian forest is, well, those were surprises.
Here are some of the things I’ve had to research for my novels:
Tarring and feathering. In the first book of my Loyalist trilogy, Lucy’s father experiences this inhumane method of punishment. Believe me, reading about it does not make it seem any less gruesome; in fact, so gruesome that sometimes people died from it.
Skinning a raccoon. This description was part of the first draft of The Loyalist’s Wife as Lucy tried to hold on to her land while her husband was off fighting with the British. The account didn’t survive revision but I learned both how to do the skinning and how to write its description in an interesting fashion.
Carolinian forest. Did you know that Carolinian forest grows from the Carolinas right up into Ontario? And that some of the trees in that forest are ash, birch, chestnut, hickory, oak and walnut? I needed those notes to make sure the specific trees I mentioned actually grew where I said they did.
Battles around Niagara in the War of 1812. These were particularly bloody as the Niagara peninsula saw a lot of killing and cannonading as did the whole of Southern Ontario. As a person who grew up in Southern Ontario, I was surprised to learn the facts and wrote about them in both The Loyalist’s Luckand The Loyalist Legacy.
The Portage Road on both sides of the Niagara River. I still have visions of huge oxen pulling wagons loaded with settlers’ supplies up the hills to get to the level of Niagara Falls. Anyone who has seen those Falls or their picture knows that is a huge height and goods had to be portaged around the Falls in order to continue up the lakes on their way to settlers’ destinations.
How to bleed a dead cow. Well, I grew up on a farm so some of this I kind of knew but I still had to research just to make sure I had the facts right about the kill, the hanging of the carcass and the slicing of the neck vein in order to let the blood run out. In “olden days”, that’s where they got the blood for blood pudding and certain sausages. Doesn’t sound that appetizing to today’s readers! Lucy has to do this herself in the first book of the Loyalist Trilogy.
Uniforms for Butler’s Rangers, British soldiers, and Patriots who later became Americans. Believe me this is a huge subject with uniforms ranging from non-existent to very specific for each subsection in fighting units. The uniforms indicate far more than just the country the soldiers are fighting for. The Butler’s Rangers in my first book started out wearing their own clothes but eventually had a green coat and tan trousers. Here’s a sample of the variations.
Muskets and various cannons. There is no end of information on all of the weapons of the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Fascinating read when you consider these soldiers had to master intricate steps in all kinds weather and fighting conditions. I love the bit about the musket firing soldier ripping off the end of the paper tube holding the powder with his teeth, pouring in the powder, ramming it home with the ramrod, attaching the ramrod to the barrel again and finally firing. In the video no one is firing at those demonstrating. Makes a difference to how calm they might be, wouldn’t you say?
Redans and redoubts. Redoubt is the most common word and redoubts represent a fortification where soldiers were somewhat protected from approaching enemies. This is described here. I used this research in the second book of my trilogy, The Loyalist’s Luck.
Cicadas and crickets. Believe me there is a difference in the chirping times between these two but in the eight years since I sourced it out for my first book, I’ve forgotten, and I don’t have the time to do the research again. I did use the correct term in that book. There’s nothing to say that once finding the proper research and using it, you’ll remember it!
No matter what kind of book you’re writing the research will catch or destroy the reader’s interest. Make sure it’s well done.
The Loyalist’s Wife, The Loyalist’s Luck, The Loyalist Legacy
Think a moment. What is one thing you would never do? You probably have quite a list, if you’re anything like me, but for our purposes as authors we need to pick the one thing our characters would never do. And then make them do it. This lets our readers empathize with our characters in a very personal way.
Lucy is a good person. A city girl from Boston, she married John and took up farming with him with great enthusiasm. When he leaves her to fight for the British and do it all herself, she manages nicely. Until the revolution catches up to her. She escapes to Niagara where she and John eventually raise their family to adulthood. John is thrown into prison for no legal reason and Lucy sees him disintegrate before her very eyes. Will this good, strong woman take the only step she can and help to break John out?
“In here,” she said, the lantern streaking into the outer room where her sons held the jailer between them, his eyes wide. Robert held the man’s one arm twisted around behind and from the side William gripped him around the neck, his hand clamped over the frightened fellow’s mouth. The man whom she had bribed with many meals these last months gasped for air. John pulled himself up against the bars and Lucy rushed to him.
Aaron brushed past her in the tight space. “Let me,” he said. He slipped John’s arm over his shoulder and followed Lucy from the cell. William and Robert pushed the jailer in but before they could tie a neckerchief over his mouth, the man shouted. “I can help you.” He twisted away from William’s hand. “A back way.”
“Wait,” Lucy said. William dropped the neckerchief.
The jailer quickly blurted out the whereabouts of the secret stairs that led to a tunnel opening near the lake. They soon decided to send Aaron out to move the wagon while William tied the jailer up for his own safety and locked him in the cell.
Lucy turned back to the jailer. “We will never forget this, sir. You are a kind man.”
His mouth gagged, the man nodded and Lucy hurried after her sons who now supported their father. She held the lantern as high as she could but her short reach didn’t light the three ahead. A few feet into the darkness they stopped to allow her to go first with the lantern, then followed on her heels. She stumbled and skirted rocks and boulders—the way was certainly not smooth—and prayed the jailer had told the truth as she walked farther and farther into the black. Water dripped more and more from the ceiling. Were they under the river now? Surely not.
But at her feet water about an inch deep soon had her skirts sopping and her shoes drenched. To make matters worse, she couldn’t see the rocks but stumbled along splashing herself with every step.
“Mama. Take my arm.” Robert moved up beside her and she passed him the lantern. She could hear William’s labored breathing and John’s huffing and puffing but couldn’t look back. Her heavy skirts slowed her pace but she clung to Robert’s arm and ignored the spidery webs clinging to her hair. The water deepened. Her legs were cold and stiff. Robert held tight. They staggered on together. Just when she was sure she could not take another step she glanced up. “Light.” She tried to point ahead.
“Yes,” Robert whispered. “Just a little farther.”
The tunnel sloped upward and, as the light grew brighter, they left the water behind. First out of the hole, Lucy watched as Robert turned back to help William tug their father, blinking, up into the sunshine. Aaron pulled her to the waiting wagon, and parted the hay to reveal a hiding place. She crawled inside, John came after and then her sons. They were almost blind in the shadowy half-light, brown with the sun filtered through the layered hay. A bright spot of light opened where they had crawled in and Aaron shoved a jug of water toward them. “Godspeed,” he whispered and was gone. She prayed his part in this would never be known. The wagon lurched and they were off, the three escapees and her, now just as guilty in the eyes of the law as her men, and whoever was driving the wagon.
–The Loyalist Legacy #3 in the Loyalist Trilogy.
What is the effect of this plot device on the reader? Does this scene make our readers think of something in their own life that went against their beliefs? If it does, I have helped my readers personalize the event.
Lucy’s son, William, having fought in the War of 1812 and carried his brother’s dead body back home, never wants to go to war again. He puts up with all kinds of trouble from the Family Compact, even turning against his remaining brother. He knows Robert is right. Their situation is untenable. But he will not join the rebels with Robert.
“Why can’t you see Robert’s side for once, William?”
“He’s going to get himself killed, that’s why.” He looked across the table. “Don’t you think I know he is right on so many of these points?”
“Then why don’t you tell him?” Catherine resisted the urge to reach for her husband. Instead she kept her tone strong and her words stronger. “He’s your brother. Can’t you see how hard all of this is for him?”
“For him? What about me? I had to watch Thomas die right beside me fighting those Americans, ride all night to take his body to my parents, and watch my mother wrap her arms around his mangled body. I tried to free my father and landed in jail with him, escaped with my parents inside a load of straw where every breath filled our lungs with chaff and our heads with terror. I watched him die simply because he wrote letters to help others fight for justice against that Family Compact. Oh, yes. I know.” He reached for her hands. “But I want peace. For you, for our children And now for our grandchild.”
She watched his green eyes fill up and understood, finally, his pain, but she had to go on. “But peace at what price? He only asked you to join a lodge.”
He jumped to his feet, eyes blazing. “Only? It’s another way to cross Strachan and the rest of them. Don’t you think I know that?”
–The Loyalist Legacy #3 in the Loyalist Trilogy.
The one thing William never wants to do is fight in another war but as rebellion comes closer and closer his choices shrink. Again, I put him in that position where he has to chose and in so doing I’ve heightened the tension to the breaking point in the novel. We can all identify with his situation, making the climax believable for us as readers.
The Loyalist’s Wife, The Loyalist’s Luck, The Loyalist Legacy
With much pleasure, today I welcome to my blog author Wayne Turmel and his new novel, Acre’s Bastard. Wayne has a colorful and interesting background which you can read about here and that culminates in his now writing historical fiction. Acre’s Bastard is his second in the genre. For my Canadian readers, know that Wayne originates from Canada where he was a stand-up comedian in Yuk Yuks back in the eighties and now lives near Chicago. Let’s just jump into Wayne’s writing life!
Elaine Cougler: When we talked about you guesting on my blog as an interviewee with your new book, Acre’s Bastard, you mentioned the disparity in our chosen times and places to write about. You even mentioned a link between the Crusades and my Loyalists created at the time of the American Revolution. What connection do you see?
Wayne Turmel: The thing about historical fiction is that it gives you a chance to tell a story from any “side.” What the Crusades and Revolutionary/Loyalist period have in common are huge audiences who see things from their side, while there are plenty of stories on the other. When I have a couple of pints in me, I love to tell Americans the “real” story of the revolution (godless terrorists driving law abiding, loyal citizens from their homes) while hearing all the time about the godless British oppressing the freedom fighters who claimed their birthright. Who’s right? The Crusades is a similar time. The events seem very different depending on whose material you’re reading. And I suspect most people (like Lucca in my book) aren’t really picking sides so much as trying to live through it for another day.EC: Can you tell us which side in the Crusades you favored in Acre’s Bastard? Why did you pick that side?
WT: Wow, that’s a loaded question because I’m of the belief that in any religious war, both sides are equally irrational. That said, Lucca was raised a Christian in an orphanage by the Knights of the Hospital of St John. He’s not religious at all, but finds himself siding with the Crusaders more by default than intention. He tries to save the Kingdom of Jerusalem, because that’s where his friends are, not out of spiritual conviction. In fact, he finds good and bad, evil and grace on both sides.
EC: In the research for Acre’s Bastard, what kind of surprising details did you come across that were new to you? Did any of them shape the fictional part of your story?
WT: I’ve been a Crusades junkie since I was a kid (blame Ivanhoe if you must) so I didn’t think there was much to learn except details. The story really came together, though, when I learned about the Order of St Lazar. The idea of leper knights, and how Lucca becomes involved with them, made the story jump right out of my brain onto the page.
EC: Was research easy or difficult for this book? Where did you find most of your golden nuggets that made their way into your book?
WT: Good research on this period is hard to come by, and most of what I thought I knew was either tainted by the movies, or came from the same limited number of resources. Reading the Arab accounts (especially Malouf’s “The Crusades Through Arab Eyes,” helped counterbalance some of that. Then I found a couple of experts, like Helena P. Schrader who is not only a fine author (Envoy of Jerusalem) but runs the “Real Crusades History” network. She took me to the woodshed on some of the facts and recent research. Kept me from making some major mistakes.
EC: How did you come to write historical fiction? Was this always your goal?
WT: I’m certainly no scholar, but all my life I’ve preferred fiction that is set in other places and times (sometimes real, sometimes fantastic.) Reading a story usually drives me to learn more about the real time period and people, which drives me to read more and so on down the rabbit hole. One of my mottoes is “swords are cooler than guns”. At least so far, my stories have been set in the past, although my first novel (The Count of the Sahara) was only in the 1920s as opposed to 1187.
EC: Do you think writing is easier or harder for those of us who come to being novelists later in our lives rather than earlier? How did your first jobs and experiences shape you as a writer? And did you always know some day you’d find your way to becoming a novelist?
WT: It’s funny, I’ve written most of my life in one way or the other. I started out as a stand-up comedian. Your Canadian readers who remember Yuk Yuks in the 1980s may have seen me. Then after I moved to the US, I became involved in the training industry, and wrote articles, books and blog posts about business topics for nearly 20 years. When I turned 50, it dawned on me that I’d never be a “real” writer until I did at least one novel. I’m sure all that writing warmed me up, but fiction is a very different animal than cranking out business books about Webinars.
EC: Tell us about your main character, especially about why we as readers will fall in love with this person. Do you follow the rule of always giving your heroes flaws and your antagonists at least one shining characteristic?
WT: Lucca is a ten year old orphan, who is half “Frankish” (European) and half Syrian who runs the streets of Acre. He’s funny, and precocious, but also a bit of a liar and a brat. I mean chapter one starts with him and his friends trying to peak in a brothel window! I think audiences will really dig him. There are two main antagonists… Brother Idoneus is just evil…. Al Sameen is brilliant, if on the “wrong” side of things.
EC: Have you tried writing any of your stories from one point of view and then tried it from another? From whose POV is Acre’s Bastard told?
WT: For some reason I find myself drawn to first person POV a lot. Maybe because it’s easier to write jokes that way, and despite the action and drama there’s plenty of humor in my books. My first novel, The Count of the Sahara, alternates between first person (Count de Prorok’s assistant, Willy) and third person (following the Algerian expedition in flashbacks.) Acre’s Bastard is told entirely from Lucca’s point of view, which I think ramps up the stakes (he’s only 10 for heaven’s sake) and also made it challenging to put the history in, because what do kids know about politics and context? My beta readers seem to think I did okay. They like Lucca a lot, even if one of them told me he needs a good spanking.
EC: What is the best piece of writing advice you were ever given and how did it shape you as the writer you are today?
WT: Hmmmmm, I could be a smart aleck and say Hemingway (write drunk, edit sober) but the truth is more mundane than that. I think Louis L’Amour said “Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
EC: What is your best book marketing or author marketing tip?
WT: Be shameless about asking for reviews on Amazon, Goodreads and wherever. People don’t understand how important the NUMBER of reviews is to how our robot overlords promote books inside those websites. I tell everyone who buys my book or tells me how much they enjoy it… “Don’t tell me, tell Amazon.” An online review is like applause for an author.
EC: Talk about something close to your writing career which I haven’t mentioned. Show us why we should care about reading Acre’s Bastard.
WT: I think the biggest thing about what I write, is that the “subject matter” isn’t as important as the story. I have a number of readers, especially women, who say they’d have never read a book about a war, or some obscure real life archaeologist, or about a little boy in the 1100s, but once they started, they really got caught up. That’s what I’m looking to hear. That they loved the story, and maybe learned something by accident. Lord knows it’s the only way I’ve ever learned anything valuable….
One of the gifts I received for Christmas shows yet again how closely my husband is tuned in to my writing life. He knows that having just launched the third in my Loyalist trilogy, I am working even harder on marketing. After all, what good is writing a great series if few people know about it?
While my next writing project is simmering in my mind, I’m going to step up my already busy book marketing life. My husband bought me this book: Online Marketing for Busy Authors. (Click to see it on Amazon.)
I have yet to crack this book open but soon!
Now I have a closet full of books on writing and even a few on marketing. The first book I read on the subject linked writing and selling right in the title so I know how important the selling part is to a writer’s career. And before I open Burke’s book I’m going to list my own marketing methods to date:
Talk about your writing whenever you can. So many people will be thrilled that you’ve included them in your writing inner circle. (Of course, you don’t want to become annoying!) Believe it or not, having published books seems to give a writer the right to call herself an author and most people respect that.
Get on as many social media outlets as you can handle comfortably and keep them up to date. I use Facebook, both my main page and my author page, sometimes I do ads on these; Twitter; Pinterest; and, to a lesser extent, LinkedIn. I’m planning to step up my YouTube game in 2017 and post regular videos.
Look for speaking gigs that relate to the subject matter of your book. Historical and Loyalist groups are delighted to hear about my Loyalist trilogy. Elementary schools would be excited to get in children’s book authors. Those with non-fiction books can look for their peeps among those who need/want their books about dog-grooming, lifestyle suggestions, or dating advice.
Offer to do special presentations where your book is most suited. Last summer I did a July 1st (Canada Day) table at a wonderful museum in London. For that I did special games for kids that related to the history at the museum and in my books. Of course the woman who wanted to dumb my games down for her kids by giving them the answers kind of missed the point.
Make it your goal to do at least one thing to market yourself and your books EVERY DAY. This keeps you on top of your marketing game and increases your chances of the world finding out about your books. It also results in all kinds of people knowing you. Just a few days ago I received a lovely thank you letter from a couple who subscribe to my twice monthly newsletter telling me how much they enjoy it and wishing me Merry Christmas. I so appreciated that both for the kindness it showed and for the feedback on what I am doing.
Here is a link to some blog posts related to this topic which will show you my journey along the marketing road. On that blog I really talk about my writing journey to publication and beyond so there may be other things there that interest budding writers. Whatever your interest I hope the articles help you. Meanwhile I am going to push on with marketing my Loyalist trilogy. For this morning? I’m going to go down my list of previous speaking venues and see if there is somewhere I might seek a return gig now that it’s almost four years since I’ve been to some of them. Happy New Year!
The Loyalist’s Wife, The Loyalist’s Luck, The Loyalist Legacy
One question I was asked over and over as a teacher was “Does spelling count?” When I received the comment I’ve used in my title above on my website, I wished I were still teaching. The kids would have roared over that one and the lesson would have been easily learned.
Yes, spelling counts.
“Standardized spelling enables readers to understand writing, to aid communication and ensure clarity.” This quote from the Huffington Post Canada puts its case simply and leaves no room for all the dross of argument on the subject put forth by so many in our world of easily accessible technology today.
In a Lifestyle online article on the subject, eight reasons for an affirmative reply to the question of whether spelling counts include communication, standards, avoiding confusion, enabling future prospects, failures with SpellCheck, comprehension, distraction, and making a good impression. In spite of the Twitter-byte style of the type in that article, an annoying method of communication in my opinion, the points are well taken, even if the list is improperly set up with varying parts of speech describing the eight reasons why good spelling is important.
Communication: We need to write correctly so that our words are clear and easy to understand.
Standards: It is our language and some of us would like to preserve its lovely idiosyncrasies and see those maintained.
Avoidance of confusion: “Suck” and “such” have entirely different meanings and while the humor is welcomed for the purposes of this post, spelling words incorrectly can result in hurt feelings, gross insults or worse.
The enabling of future prospects: Those resumes full of spelling mistakes don’t even get looked at, especially if the position is for a job which demands an excellent facility with language.
Failures with SpellCheck: No one can rely on a computer to know all the intricacies of language with impunity. We must be able to see when the computer is wrong and, believe me, that happens all the time. Just ask a novelist about all the green underlining in Word for items which the computer deems incorrect. Same for grammar checkers.
Comprehension: Sometimes words are spelled so badly or so many errors can be found that the intended meaning of the sentence is lost. Believe me, I’ve seen it in the classroom and in writing critique groups.
Distraction: Picture it. You’re really immersed in that great book and can hardly wait to turn the page. Suddenly a word is misspelled. And then another one. Maybe even a third. Your mind switches away from the hero’s last words to his best friend. Instead you wonder why those words are spelled incorrectly. You are distracted. Do we as authors want that? Absolutely not.
The creation of a good impression: You are meeting the person you’ve spent much of your life idolizing and write an email finalizing the details. You rush. You don’t reread it. You miss grammar and spelling errors and even leave out important details such as where the meeting will take place. Your idol will definitely form an impression of you before ever seeing you. With an email like that, what do you suppose that impression will be?
Some of my dearest author friends make no secret of their lack of spelling acumen but their books shine with correctness and with intelligence, wit, and information. They know spelling is not their forte but they are smart enough to find someone to make sure their writing is correct. And that very action underlines the importance of correct spelling.
So, yes, spelling counts. I believe so strongly in this that I try very hard not to model bad spelling when I text my young grandchildren (8 years old). How can they learn what is correct if they don’t see it?
And now, I’m going to reread this post once more!
This is the cover of a storybook made for me by a superior student who knew very well the importance of correct spelling and excellent writing, Ronda Keller.
Think a moment. What is one thing you would never do? You probably have quite a list, if you’re anything like me, but for our purposes as authors we need to pick the one thing our characters would never do. And then make them do it. This lets our readers empathize with our characters in a very personal way.
EC: 
