This Writing Life

Thinking About James Lee Burke

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:06:00 +0000

July 23, 2008

I was thinking a little bit about James Lee Burke today. In case you haven't heard of him or read any of his books, his dominant mystery series involves ex-New Orleans cop Dave Robicheaux. I discovered him somewhere around his 4th Robicheaux novel, went crazy and hunted down all the rest, bought all his books in hardcover, then abruptly stopped reading him. That's a blog post for a different day, that odd evolution away from a certain writer or certain type of book.

No, what I've been thinking about is Burke's odd career.

You see, a while back on Erica Orloff's blog I wrote once about fearing that I'd had my shot at being a successful novelist and I'd blown it. The Derek Stillwater novels were it, they didn't work out and that was it, show's over, folks. Erica responded that as long as I didn't quit, it was never over.

Maybe she's right. I don't know, given the current state of the publishing industry, but that's also a different blog topic.

So what's the deal with James Lee Burke?

Well, one thing, he had a novel he wrote that was rejected 111 times over nine years that when it did finally get published was nominated for the Pulitzer.

The other thing is, Burke published three novels in the late 1960s and early '70s. Then nothing. He couldn't give his books away. He sold one paperback original between 1972 and 1985.

He essentially had a 13-year dry spell before breaking back in with the Robicheaux novels, which have made him a bestseller and an award-winning author. In the January 1993 issue of Writer's Digest, Burke said:

"Those 13 years were really hard. I wrote a mess of short stories and so many unpublished novels that I can't even remember all of them. "

He later goes on to say: (and by the way, the piece was written by W.C. Stroby)

"My feeling is there's a time and a reason and a place for everything. I'm convinced that my career is not exceptional, but is instead indicative of the rule--namely, that you never quit. You can't be discouraged. But, at the same time, a person should not fault himself for becoming discouraged. It's going to happen, it's natural. But you still have to commit yourself. You have to do something every day for your art, or you'll never be a success at it."

Well, here's the problem. I agree with him. But I don't. Because, hell, we're all grown-ups here, right? We do realize that sometimes you can try your best and things don't work out. That not everybody can be first place? Right? Not every person who writes novels will get published, not every published novel will succeed, that success is different for each person, that success might be "published" for one and "multiple printings" for another and "bestseller list" for yet another and "number one on the New York Times BS List" for another.

Still, Burke's right. When you quit you only guarantee your failure.

To which I would add, "And try to enjoy the process because the goal isn't guaranteed."

Cheers,

Mark Terry

How To Make Money Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:42:00 +0000

July 22, 2008

Write something people want.

That's about it. Really, that's pretty much what it comes down to. It probably doesn't come down to being a "good writer" because the typical book buyer doesn't care or can't identify it. That's not being snotty, either. I recognize beautiful writing, a Philip Roth, a John Updike, a Norman Mailer, but for me, too often, beautiful writing of that sort gets in the way of the story. From a technical point of view I can say, "Wow, this guy can really write," but mostly I just wish they'd stop glorifying in their own technique. I sometimes read a successful novel by some bestseller and I really struggle with it yet the typical book buyer says they loved it. If I analyze it enough, I often find there's something strange or clunky about the rhythm and word selection of the book that's getting in my way, a tendency for the writer to add in unnecessary detail that should have been deleted, but he/she still tells a great story. (Lewis Perdue comes to mind). Or maybe they're a really terrific writer, but for some reason I think the main character is acting like a total moron in order to make the story work (oh, don't get me started). Still, people don't seem to care, or at least, a big chunk of them don't, which suggests to me they're getting something out of the book that I am not.

I think this is true for fiction as well as nonfiction, although in the case of nonfiction it's generally easier to figure out what people want. People want to be informed about some topic they're interested in, whether it's how to keep their 2-year-old from having a tantrum in the grocery store, how to choose wines that go with steak, how to lose 15 pounds without dieting, or how to choose long-term care insurance.

With fiction, maybe it's not that hard either.

People want to be entertained. They want to spend time in the company of a main character that they like or hate but that intrigues them. They want to be transported away from whatever the hell is going on in their life. In many ways they want to be informed about something as well, whether it's the behavior of an assassin in Asia (Barry Eisler), the perils of some new technology (Michael Crichton) or how the police operate in Italy (David Hewson). They want to live someone else's life vicariously, whether it's a glamorous or non-glamorous New Yorker trying to find love, a spy in the cold war, a private eye in Boston, a cop in Los Angeles, a Homeland Security troubleshooter in Baltimore, a goofy bounty hunter in New Jersey, a child psychologist in L.A. or a haunted writer in Maine.

They probably also want to feel something, whether it's fear, anger, joy, nervousness, lust, humor or all of the above, sometimes all at the same time.

That's all.

Cheers,

Mark Terry

The Mythology of Publishing

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:57:00 +0000

July 21, 2008

Joe Konrath recently had a post about giving and taking advice and I asked him what thing he believed was true about publishing but which in his experience did not seem to be true. He wrote:

"While I still think it's important to earn out your advance and think of your publisher as a partner rather than as a boss, I'm beginning to figure out that your partner doesn't always feel the same way..."

There sure are a lot of follow-up questions that come to mind there, but as I thought about this, I wondered, what did I once think was true about publishing that I no longer take as gospel and, in fact, might believe is just wrong. So here are a few.

Good writing will win out in the long run.

Well, in the larger world of publishing fiction, I think good writing (if you can define it) will get the short-term attention of an agent or editor, but will not necessarily get you published. In fact, I no longer believe that a "good story well told" will automatically get you published. Isn't that depressing? I think it kind of is. Now, unfortunately, my feeling is that the biggest things editors and publishers look for are: does the book have a commercial hook, does the author have a platform, and frankly, there's just a shortage of big publishers willing to take a chance on anything. (Ever noticed how many The Da Vinci Code clones there are out there?) There apparently are so many strong writers out there--and I partly blame computers and word processing programs for this, which has made it easier for people of modest talent to actually finish a manuscript--that "good" or even "very good" is so common that editors are increasingly looking for "great" or "excellent" which is very hard to come by.

Publishers will give you three to five books to grow an audience.

I wish, but apparently it wasn't the case for me.

The typical first book advance will be something like $20,000.

Hell, I thought $100,000 at one time. My first novel got $0 advance. My second $1500. Those sucked. They still suck. And this was in what, 2005 or 2006? In 1972 Stephen King got $2500 advance for the hardcover of "Carrie" and then $400,000 for the paperback of the same novel. I think the point here is that even back then Stephen King wasn't typical. And in 2005 or 2006, Mark Terry wasn't either... just on the other end of the spectrum. Typical would probably be about $5000 to $10,000 from a major publisher, although there probably is no "typical."

All published novelists are rich.

See above.

All published novelists are poor and living in a garret.

Maybe more true than the previous one, but what has struck me over the last four or five years is the blunt realization that the majority of published novelists are essentially "hobbyists," and that if I were to actually look at the history of the novel, it's probably always been that way.

Editors want to nurture and grow a writer's career.

Probably what they want is someone who becomes an instant bestseller that they only paid $5000 for. My impression now is that editors are under too much bottom line pressure from their publishers and the accounting department to nurture a writer that doesn't have an instantly upward trend in their sales figures.

Publishers will do everything they can to make a book a success.

No. Uh, hell no. If publishers have a significant investment in a book (read: big advance) then yes, they will do everything they can to earn back that advance. If they have little or nothing invested in a book--which is most of them--then they do little or nothing except cross their fingers. There are tons of books that get published and the sole marketing done by the publisher involves a mention in their catalogue and sending a few advanced reading copies out to the major trade review outlets--Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus.

How about you? Do you agree with me? Have I just depressed the hell out of you? What are your cherished notions about publishing? Any publishing myths you know about?

Cheers,

Mark Terry

A New Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:16:00 +0000

July 19, 2008

I started a new blog a week or so ago. It's called Fat2Fit and it has nothing to do with writing. But if you're interested in my ramblings about exercise and activity and this is an issue for you as well, swing on by and let me know what you think. Or if you have a jock friend or someone who needs to exercise or likes to exercise but has problems actually getting around to it, point them my way.

Cheers,

Mark Terry

Optimism

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:45:00 +0000

July 18, 2008

I am probably not an optimist. I don't think I'm a pessimist, either. A friend once said I was a "realist" of the Hope-For-The-Best-Expect-The-Worst Sort.

That may have been true then, but I'm not sure it's true now. Things changed, my life changed, I changed.

So maybe I am an optimist.

But let me tell you something about freelancing for a living, and this applies to novels or magazine articles and everything in between.

1. You have to be optimistic and have faith that something good is going to come along. Things have been a little dry lately since bailing on the full-time gig, exacerbated by some slow-pay clients, which is frustrating the hell out of me. But I sat down and started hunting for more work. There has been a little voice in my head that says, "You're not going to get work, the economy sucks, it's July and everybody's on vacation, you blew your good karma in New York when you turned down the job..."

And you've just got to tell that little voice to SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP.

And today it looks like I've probably picked up a new client. I expect it to be the first through an open floodgate.

2. Put it one of two ways: things change and/or shit happens. Magazines go belly-up (so do book publishers), editors change jobs, publications decide to stop working with freelancers, etc. Aside from my contract job crisis this summer, I also did some work for a lab company that wanted me to write copy for their website. Alarm bells should have been going off, but I did some work for her although she didn't seem to be answering my questions or putting me in touch with the people I needed to be in touch with. I finally pulled together what I felt was 95% of the job and sent it to her. She came back with, "Oh, this is good, about 20% there." To which I responded with an invoice and the comment, "I can't go any further until I have feedback from the company."

Guess who hasn't paid the bill or gotten back with me? Sometimes you just have to wash your hands of a client and say, "Enough of that shit." Thank God I only spent about 5 hours or so on that gig.

But overall, if you want to keep your sanity, you have to convince yourself there's more, good work coming, that the checks are in the mail, that by God, things will work out.

Cheers,

Mark Terry

What I've Been Reading

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:41:00 +0000

July 17, 2008

Here's a list--with comments--of the last 10 books I've read.

Phantom Prey by John Sandford

Yes, another Lucas Davenport novel. For some reason it's not sticking in my head, but I remember enjoying reading it quite a bit.

House Of Rain: Tracking A Vanished Civilization Across The American Southwest by Craig Childs

It took me a while to get through this, but it's really remarkable. It's essentially about the Anasazi and Craig Childs who is a writer, naturalist and amateur anthropologist/archaeologist, apparently spent several years hiking around the southwest following migratory pathways from Anasazi ruin to Anasazi ruin, talking to archaeologists and Hopi tribal elders and park rangers. Beautifully written, sort of dense, but fascinating.

The Sacred Cut by David Hewson

I tried reading this once before and gave up. In a stubborn streak, I tried it again and decided I really liked it. It's a serial killer book, but it takes place in Rome. It's a very dense, lyrical narrative, part travelogue, historical epic, police procedural and espionage novel. What finally turned the table for me with it was how satisfying I found it to be in the end.

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

The 4th book in Rick's "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series for middle grades. Wonderful, funny, exciting adventure. If you haven't read this series, start at the beginning--"The Lightning Thief" and catch up. Really, they give Harry Potter a run for their money, which is not fair to either Jo Rowling or Rick Riordan. Just read them because they're good.

The Cold Moon by Jeffery Deaver

A Lincoln Rhyme forensic procedural, and as is the case with Deaver's books, it was good. He's quite reliable in that way. Sometimes he drives me crazy because his books are so long, but they don't sag in the middle or anything, they just go on forever, twist after twist after twist. He's really good at twisting things unexpectedly, and just when I think I've got his tricks figured out, he spins them backwards or inside-out.

Beyond Varallan by SL Viehl

SF--the second book in the SpaceDoc series. I thought this one was a little slow, but I enjoyed it. I went out and bought the 3rd book, primarily because Viehl did such a great job of creating a cliffhanger at the end of this book. SL Viehl also writes romance novels, and I'm pretty aware that the SpaceDoc novels have a romance novel structure driving them beneath all the SF adventure stuff.

Homo Politicus: The Strange And Scary Tribes That Run Our Government by Dana Milbank

Nonfiction, which would be satire if it weren't so damned true. Milbank discusses politicians and politics within a quasi-framework that "Homo Politicus," otherwise known as the Beltway Man, has similarities to various anthropological studies of different cultures around the world, often primitive cultures. Hilarious, disgusting, fascinating. He does a really nice job of putting a lot of political scandals--and day-um, there's a lot of them--into a context of behavior and following up on what became of the figures in them and why. It makes me wonder, though, why the American people don't expect more from their elected officials.

Playing With Fire by Derek Landy

Another middle grades novel, the second to feature Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton who is a P.I., and his apprentice, a 13-year-old girl, Valkyrie Cain. I loved the first book and was so-so on this one. I'm not sure if it was just because it wasn't as fresh as the first or if by setting the book entirely in the fictional world rather than both the fictional and real world, it lost some of its effectiveness. I enjoyed it, it's a great adventure, but it just didn't seem to work as well for me as the first one.

The Last Oracle by James Rollins

A Sigma Force novel. Enjoyable, fun, crazy. Rollins has this whole thing going with intuitive powers affiliated with autism and a Russian program to exploit it, Chernobyl, ruthless politicians, gypsies, Greek myths, high technology... definitely a summer reading book.

Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais

An Elvis Cole novel and quite emotional. Elvis seems a lot less flip and funny in this book. A few years earlier he'd been hired to find an alibi for a potential murderer, and he did discover evidence the man couldn't have been where the killing was. Now, years later, that guy apparently committed suicide and has a photo album of seven murders that apparently he committed, including the one Elvis had provided evidence for. Beating himself up over it, he goes head to head with the police to try and figure out what happened. Brooding, dark, hard and short. Really excellent, but the tone's darker than most Elvis Cole novels.

Cheers,

Mark Terry

Word of Mouth/Promotion

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:13:00 +0000

July 16, 2008

Yesterday I got over-involved in a posting thread over on agent Nathan Branford's blog about a couple different publishers and/or imprints such as Vanguard, that are attempting a new business model. Essentially the business model involves publishes far, far fewer books, providing much lower advances, guaranteeing much more money gets put into promotion, higher royalties because of the lower to non-existent advances, and the upshot being that because they are going to publish far fewer books, they intend to treat each with tender loving care and turn each one into a bestseller.

It's not the first I've heard of it. I spoke with both David Morrell and Tom Grace (at length) about it, both of whom are at Vanguard. Both of them have a significant sales history and reputation and for one reason or another, can afford to go with a minimal advance (or none), or, at the least, are willing to. Vanguard, at least, seems to be focusing on authors who have sold quite well in the past and are looking for more promotional support from their publishers.

I'm not opposed to the idea, but I wondered in my first response if this would be a bad idea for the rest of us ilk, those of us with small or no advances already. Yes, it would be great if the publisher who was already not paying us much money decided to up our royalties and then promised and actually followed-through and spent a specific dollar amount on promotion. I just didn't see it happening that way, quite possibly because no publisher can afford to promote every book they publish effectively... most books are the equivalent of cannon fodder or spaghetti--you throw it at the wall and see if it sticks, and if it doesn't, you shrug and say, well, we didn't spend much money on it anyway and there's more where he came from. My point was that there were tons of books being published with small or non-existent advances so publishers wouldn't be inclined to increase the royalties to make up for that, and since their investment was so low anyway, what motivation did they have to throw any real money into promotion or co-op?

Somebody apparently decided I was focusing on the promotion element too much and money, and really, all it takes for a book to succeed in the marketplace is for readers to love it and talk about it, and after all, there's a lengthy history of books given modest advances and no particular push by the publisher that take off, and a lengthy history of books that are given big advances, huge marketing pushes that then fail.

Indeed there is and I didn't disagree, I just asked that she name 5, and I was specifically pointing out that I wasn't challenging the statement, I was just curious what she would put up. (Okay, yes, perhaps I was challenging the statement, but not because I thought she was wrong, but because I wanted her to substantiate her claim, that is to say, put her money where her mouth was).

So she did, and one of them was JK Rowling and Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone.

Yep, I don't disagree with that. Her publisher certainly did not realize when they paid her whatever little they paid her, that she was going to be the most famous writer on the planet. I would also add Sue Grafton and Patricia Cornwell and Janet Evanovich to that mix as well, and without spending a lot of time researching it, I'm sure I could come up with more.

I also pointed out, however, that it wasn't long after those authors developed an unexpectedly large following that their publishers started throwing a great deal of money into promotion. I specifically noted around the time the 3rd or 4th Potter book came out, how Borders had these giant 3 feet by 4 feet cardboard, glossy posters hanging from the ceilings in all their stores, that I asked who paid for them--the publisher--and could only guess how much it cost not only to make and deliver those signs, but then to pay Borders and B&N and everybody else for the real estate. (And I didn't say this, but I asked this when I was doing a book signing in their store where I was lucky to sell 7 or 8 books and there had been no promotion done by the bookstore or the publisher whatsoever, not even a sign in the store window saying I would be there. The only promotion done for that was what I did, which was minimal because I didn't have the money for anything).

My point, which I probably did not articulate as clearly as I should have, was that clearly the publishers weren't relying on word-of-mouth, they were spending money--and a lot of it--to promote their big authors, they were making sure they got reviewed by the major trades, but also made sure there were expensive ads and articles in major newspapers like the New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, et al., they were spending co-op money to make sure huge stacks of their books were placed on the front tables at the chain stores and at the New Titles sections, and next to the cash registers at Wal-Mart and Kmart and Sam's Clubs. In some cases they were paying for TV and radio ads.

Word-of-mouth is great. Absolutely great. But if your book is only available in every third store--probably 1 copy--and your distribution sucks, even if the 500 people who love your book talk it up, it probably won't sell. And it sure as hell won't sell if nobody can find it or has heard of it.

I find it interesting that "word-of-mouth" often seems, in reality, to mean that some feature writer at the New York Times writes an article about the book, then somebody at USA Today decides it needs a look and does an interview, and it grows from there. What seems to be missing is the notion of where that "word-of-mouth" may actually have begun. Did it begin with some reader buying a copy for his maiden aunt? Did it begin with a librarian or bookshop owner recommending it to readers? And how did they hear about it? Did they read a review in Publishers Weekly or Library Journal, did the publisher send them an ARC and they picked it up by accident, happen to like it and recommend it?

Or did the publisher's PR person send out press releases indicating how much money they had spent on the book and how hot it was and really, they should try and try to read this HOT NEW BOOK.

By comparison, for my last novel, my publisher sent out 4--yes, count them, 4!--advanced reading copies and I was mentioned in their catalogue and on their website. I believe it was also mentioned in a 1/3 page ad in Mystery Scene Magazine along with 6 or 7 other books. That is, as far as I know, the extent of my publisher's promotional efforts for The Serpent's Kiss. Again, welcome to the reality of publishing. (I, on the other hand, spent several thousand dollars on AuthorBuzz, sending postcards to libraries and bookstores, my website, and visiting bookstores and doing a couple radio interviews, library talks and book fairs. It sounds good, but it's a drop in the bucket and was largely wasted time, money and effort).

Let me give you an interesting example. I was a book reviewer for The Oakland Press here in Michigan for quite a few years. (Also other places). I still get books sent to me. Also press kits.

Most authors you've never heard of and even many you have, you get an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC). Sometimes it's the hardcover, sometimes it's the mass market paperback, most often it looks like a cheaper version of a trade paperback that may or may not have cover art on it--sometimes it's just a plain piece of paper with the title and author info on the front, no cover art. Typically there's a one-sheet describing the book--essentially the jacket copy and the author bio.

A year or two ago I received Barry Eisler's PR person's book. I think it was for The Last Assassin. Along with the hardcover of the book I received a black binder with a white label on the front that read: TOP SECRET. Inside the black binder were several pages describing the book along with potential feature story ideas. A multi-page biography of Barry. A one or two-page Q&A with Barry. A thing Barry wrote about acting like a spy and surveilling your surroundings.

Clearly, someone was going out of their way to sell Barry and his books.

Around the same time, David Morrell's book "Scavenger" came out. In this case, I know that David's daughter, Suri Morrell, was the one who sent it to me, and she's a professional book publicist. It came with an ARC of the book (with cover art), a binder, materials similar to Barry's with an author bio, Q&A, an article David wrote about time capsules, Internet links about time capsules, an article David wrote about how he came up with the story ideas. For David's previous novel, "Creepers," I got a similar press kit and a thin flashlight ideal for tossing in your luggage in case you're stuck in a hotel when the power goes out.

Okay, my question. What builds word-of-mouth? What generates the interest of book reviewers and feature writers? What does that word-of-mouth cost? What starts it?

You tell me.

Cheers,

Mark Terry

A Day In The Life Of A Writer

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:57:00 +0000

July 15, 2008

Haven't done this in a while. Here's yesterday.

6:30. Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.

6:40. Get up. Shower. Eat breakfast. Walk Frodo.

7:50. Drive into town to get oil changed.

8:05. Sit and read while oil gets changed. "Chasing Darkness" by Robert Crais.

8:40. Drive into Oxford and pick up chicken noodle soup for lunch for Sean and Ian at Achatz Pie Store. (Didn't buy pie).

9:00. At desk with caffeinated beverage. Checking e-mail, blogs, write blog entry.

9:20. Start working on Medicare chapter of market report I'm writing.

10:40. Go to gym and lift heavy objects.

11:50. Home again. Check e-mail.

12:00. Fix lunch. Read a newsletter about the laboratory industry while soup is warming up.

1:00. Send out e-mails to set up interviews for article I'm working on. Send out a couple queries.

1:30. Organize materials for next issue of journal I edit. Offer Associate Editor position to someone (it doesn't pay, so don't get excited).

2:30. Work on nonfiction book proposal.

3:15. Work on market research report, Medicare chapter. Internet and all TV cable goes down. Call cable company. Stays down until 7:00 or so. One of Sean's friends comes over.

5:00. Start re-reading chunk of unfinished novel manuscript to get back into the story.

5:30. Call it a day. Go upstairs, start browning beef for tacos.

6:00. Go outside and climb up on roof to get Sean's flip-flop, which he kicked up onto the garage roof. Asked him to turn around so I could dope-slap him.

6:30ish. Eat dinner. Do dishes.

7:00. Talk to parents of Sean's friend who dropped off sleeping bag for overnighter. After they leave, find out that Internet is back up and go check my e-mail.

8:00. Leanne and I go running. (She runs, I sort of ... lumber).

8:25. Return from run and take Frodo for walk.

8:50. Deal with credit card changeover on the computer.

9:15. Read.

10:00. Give Sean and his friend Eric directions not to stay up all night, then go to bed.

Cheers,

Mark Terry

Your Dream Job

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:40:00 +0000

July 14, 2008

When I posted this photograph the other day for a different post (and I use it a lot, especially the multi-part series on Freelance Writing For A Living), Spy Scribbler (AKA Natasha Fondren), commented that I must really like that picture.

Well, yeah.

But after thinking about it, I wondered, besides the obvious, why. Do I really think that I'm somehow going to find a job that's going to allow me to spend my days sprawled out on a hammock on some tropical beach and spend the day contemplating the blue sky and the beach sand on my toes?

It occurs to me--and it occasionally is reinforced by other people's comments--that I probably do already have my dream job.

I'm a freelance writer and I make a decent living. I get to work out of my house, my schedule is more or less my own and I like the work a lot. I have ownership of my life, or at least the illusion of it, and that's more than most people can say.

And yet...

Sure, I'd like to be writing bestselling novels that make tons of money and allow me to work three-hour workdays and allow me to have vacation homes around the world.

But when I put it that way it starts to seem an awful lot like a Lotto fantasy or someone who hops on the bus to move to Hollywood to become a movie star.

Also, as I was discussing with Leanne yesterday (and although she was listening, she was probably thinking I was an idiot), when you turn something you love like writing into a job, your attitude about it does change. I've posted here before about the notion that if you suddenly inherited a bunch of money or won the Lotto, would you still write. And I thought it was interesting that the people aspiring to be writers typically say yes and those of us already making a living as writers tend to be a lot more ambivalent about that.

I once read a column by Lawrence Block where he said if he discovered an oil well in his backyard he's not sure he'd write another word. As an aspiring writer, that really pissed me off. Now that I've made my living as a writer for a few years and had a couple novels published, I don't find Block's statement terribly surprising or upsetting. It now makes quite a bit of sense to me.

There's a lot of world out there to explore and there might be other ways to find satisfaction than slamming my head against publishing's big, thick doors.

Or not. Because I do love to write.

One of the things that I think about though is that, generally speaking, I've found a way of making a living as a writer that allows me to stay at home, not travel except rarely, and do my work by myself except via e-mail and telephone interviews.

When my novels are published, to my surprise, I've been forced out into the larger world to do promotion, book talks, library events, bookstore signings, writers conferences, TV and radio interviews, etc. I'm not (to say the least) completely comfortable doing this. Nor do I honestly see where it has much effect, but that's a different topic.

It's possible (sort of) to be a novelist and do none of this. But you know, if you become a bestselling author, it's going to be pretty hard to avoid at least some of that stuff and my suspicion is, the bigger you get, the more promotional demands there actually are because, well, your publisher has a huge investment in you and they want to make sure you earn it back. Hell, YOU want to make sure you earn it back.

So you tell me: what's your dream job?

Cheers,

Mark Terry

I Guess It's Time To Go Back To Work

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:33:00 +0000

July 13, 2008

Well, I actually took pretty much an entire week off and aside from proofing some galleys and some correspondence and some query letters, I didn't work. Unfortunately for me, I'm rarely completely comfortable not working any more (this is a very unpleasant side effect of being self-employed and I'm fairly certain I'm not alone in it).

So tomorrow, after getting the oil changed on my truck, it'll be, as my father used to say, back to the salt mines. (My father was the supervisor of a bank vault, so I suspect there were layers to his "salt mine" reference. As a guy I knew who interned there for a couple months told me, "It sort of sucks to have to go through security just to take a piss.")

I seem to be in the summer doldrums in terms of pay, where people who owe me money seem to be sitting on the checks and where everybody who has your work plans to publish it ... next month. So tomorrow I'll dig in, crank away at a market research report I'm working on, start editing the materials for the next issue of the journal I edit, start rounding up interviews for an article I'm working on for a client and send out some queries in an effort to round up some more work. And yeah, probably start working on finishing a draft of a novel--China Fire--I've been dorking around with too long while I was working on Fortress of Diamonds. And there's also a nonfiction book proposal I'm working on.

It was a good week off, though.

Cheers,

Mark Terry

Blog Redux: The Secret Handshake

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:39:00 +0000

July 11, 2008

Because I'm killing time not working and it's a low-keyed day doing nothing in particular, I wondered what I had to say a year ago. As it turned out, I was blogging over on the Inkspot blog (I no longer do) and it was, I think, a decent blog, so I'm reposting here in lieu of actually having something new to say.

July 11, 2007

I was meandering through blogs the other day (in lieu of actually writing) and I came across a writer’s blog talking about mid-list authors, which she seemed to define as anyone who is not a bestseller (a subject for a different post, I suspect). Anyway, the point of her blog was that when you’re an unpublished novelist, you believe there’s some sort of secret handshake—knowing someone, meeting someone at a con, writing a particular book, writing “I look forward to hearing from you” versus “Thank you for your time” at the end of your query letter, using Courier instead of Times New Roman—that will get you published.

The truth?

Write a good, compelling novel, be persistent and get lucky.

Then the blogger went on to say that once writers (mid-list or otherwise, I suspect) get published, they start obsessing on what the secret handshake is to breaking out of mid-list into bestsellerdom—is it your blog, your website, your book tour, your postcards, your book signings, should you hire a publicist, should you blackmail Oprah?

The truth?

Hell if I know. And she didn’t either.

But let’s talk about those four categories of getting published briefly.

Write a good novel.
What’s a “good” novel? Oh, I’m ready to be tarred and feathered here. A “good” novel, in this context, is one that eventually gets published, is purchased by a reader, and read. Period.

Write a compelling novel.
Presumably a “good” novel is also a compelling novel, but the truth is, “compelling” (like good) is pretty much in the eyes of the beholder. I’ve read some supposed bestselling “compelling” thrillers that I thought were boring. In fact, one of the writers’ organizations I belong to gave a “best” award to a book I later tried to read and couldn’t even finish. So who’s to say? But the fact is, your novel, in order to be published, must be compelling to someone, presumably your editor. There’s no formula that I’m aware of.

Be persistent.
Sad truth of the publishing industry is there are a lot of books published in the U.S., but not by all that many publishers. So if you write a book and have an agent (this applies to getting an agent as well) you’re going to have to be persistent. You or your agent will need to determine a list of the 7 or 8 or 12 available publishers and quite possibly contact all of them. Legend has it that Elmore Leonard’s “Big Bounce” was rejected by 88 publishers. Every time I’ve read that I’ve thought: “Where the hell did they find 88 publishers in the United States?” Times have changed. I dare someone to come up with a list of 88 publishers, big or small, in the United States that publish mysteries or thrillers. Post it on your blog, you’ll get a ton of hits.

Get lucky.
Persistence leads to this, as does writing a “good” and “compelling” novel. But still, your manuscript, no matter how good it is, needs to land in the right editor’s hands on the right day. The day the editor got ripped in half by the publisher for her last thriller tanking and not earning back its advance is not going to be the right day for your similar thriller to land on her desk. Sorry. You have no control over this. But it does happen. By the same token, the day an editor tells your agent, “The thing I’m really looking for is a private eye mystery that takes place in Thailand” is the day your novel about Bangkok P.I. Ping Ng might have a shot.

And how does this all apply to increasing sales once published?

I think marketing is like Chinese water torture. We drop our books one at a time upon the public’s head, hoping eventually it’ll notice. We drop our postcards, blogs, e-newsletters, conference attendance, book signings, etc., on the public’s head one at a time, hoping eventually it’ll notice. We persist. We write good, compelling books. We get lucky.

Or we don’t.

No secret handshake.

Unless, of course, I know it and am not willing to tell you.

Cheers,
Mark Terry

Home

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:24:00 +0000

July 10, 2008

Yes, I'm home. I think it's time to shave now. And decide whether or not I'm going to work tomorrow. Decisions, decisions...

Cheers,

Mark Terry

Sleeping Bear

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:03:00 +0000

July 9, 2008

Today was a gorgeous day, but it wasn't going to be quite warm enough to want to sit around lakeside. One of our favorite places on earth is Traverse City and the nearby Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes. So we drove into TC, had lunch at Don's Drive-In, then drove to Empire and climbed around the dunes for a while. If you've never been to Michigan and are someday interested in a little tourism, this is an excellent place to go. The lakes beyond Ian there are Glen Lake and the lake seen in the other picture is Lake Michigan, about a mile across tons of sand dunes.

In a very strange coincidence, we were hanging around the top of one of the dunes when a guy came up... my cousin Bill, who lives in New Jersey. His entire family was there. It wasn't totally weird--his in-laws live nearby and he does visit every summer for a couple weeks, but... small world.

Anyway, after that we drove to another town, Glen Arbor, to visit the Cherry Republic Store and buy cherry-related products (cherry jam for Leanne; sour cherry candies for Sean; dark chocolate covered dried cherries for Ian; and Confiscated Fruit Mix (the confiscated part is dried bananas, because, in the Cherry Republic, you must declare all bananas) for me.

Then we drove back to the condo, grilled some animal parts, spent some time on the beach, then just went and started a fire and made some S'Mores, guaranteeing my blood sugar remains high.

Cheers,

Mark Terry

Higgins Lake--Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:10:00 +0000

July 8, 2008

Okay, really, I took this shot yesterday shooting into the sun. It came out a lot better than I expected it to and gives the impression it's sunset, which it was not. I was going for all the silvery light on the water which doesn't quite across, but still, considering it's taken with a Nikon Coolpix, I think this is a hell of a shot.

Today was a little cloudy and overcast in the morning so we spent the morning playing poker in the condo. After lunch and a nap-period for the grown-ups, we headed out to the beach. Both Leanne and I essentially kayaked across the lake (separately and in different directions), we all hung out, swam a little (water was cold), hung on the beach and just generally lazed around doing nothing.

Then we went into Houghton Lake for dinner at Bucilli's Pizza, then back to the condo.

Cheers,

Mark Terry

By The Lake

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:34:00 +0000

July 7, 2008

Because, like, it just wouldn't be the same if I didn't share how gorgeous where I am is. And because, like, that sentence really sucked, but I'm on vacation, so I'm allowed.

Cheers,

Mark Terry

Working Like A Dog

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:49:00 +0000

July 6, 2008

Well, that picture would have worked out better if I could figure out how to rotate it on Blogger.

Anyway, I'll be heading up north for a few days on Higgins Lake (and Frodo will be headed to the Doggie Hotel--oooohhh noooo!) where I will be on vacation. Alas, yes, I'll be taking my laptop with me so I can check e-mail, because, God forbid I be out of touch for four days.

Thanks to the wonders of digital photography, I'll post some pictures of the lake for you.

Cheers,

Mark Terry

A Perfect Piece of Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:22:00 +0000

July 4, 2008

The Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Happy Independence Day.

Mark Terry

Hancock

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:34:00 +0000

July 3, 2008

We went to see Hancock this afternoon. Critics have been pretty hard on it. I thought it was pretty good (not great).

Here's the thing. The previews might give you an idea that this is a comedy. It's got its comic moments, particularly in the beginning, but it's actually a pretty serious drama.

And I think more importantly, it's got one hell of a lot of surprises in it. It takes quite a movie to surprise me and there was a MAJOR surprise in the middle of the movie that I really didn't see coming.

And the ending... nope. Didn't see how that was going to shake out.

So was it a great movie?

Um, no, probably not. The tone's uneven and it's a little odd. And Peter Berg's direction--or rather his persistent use of steadi-cam work (or unsteady-cam work, as the case may be) bugged me. That's hardly unusual. I find this current trend of jittery camera work to be annoying and distracting in most cases. Yes, I know that static camera shots are bad, but whatever happened to panning shots, etc., rather than shooting things so it looks like a movie shot by some amateur with Parkinson's disease?

Anyway, I think one of the things I liked most about it was it defied my expectations. I went in thinking it was a typical summer action/comedy film and discovered it to be something else entirely. And I was pretty happy about what that "something else" turned out to be.

Cheers,

Mark Terry

Crosstraining

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:16:00 +0000

July 3, 2008

About three years ago I got my first gym membership. I mean, really, first. Although I've been sort of semi-active my whole life, I've never worked out at a gym and lifted weights.

I've walked a lot. Played tennis when I was younger. Rode my bike a lot until I graduated from college. Swam well enough to become a lifeguard, although I never worked as one. In college I ran some off and on, took karate for about a year, then turned into a human version of the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

So, I lift weights three days a week and I like it. I started doing "cardio," which for me meant exercise bike, some running on the treadmill. Then, after about a year of that, I started taking long bike rides on my non-weight lifting days. That got to be a big deal for me (and still is). I love riding my mountain bike.

Also, right around the time I started freelancing full-time, I started studying Sanchin-Ryu karate. My sons were taking it and now that I had time, I thought it looked like fun. I'm currently a first degree brown belt. The next level is black. My wife and oldest son also study. My youngest, who is 10, and a second-degree brown belt, has more or less quit, although sometimes we drag him to classes and have him workout. I hope he'll get back into it someday, but it's up to him.

Off and on over the last couple years I've tried running. I ran cross country in high school one year and although I was considered slow at the time, I look back at those "slow" running times when I was 16 with a longing that I know I'll never, ever reach again. Ever. My fastest 3-mile run was 19 minutes and 8 second. My first mile in that race was 5 minutes 12 seconds. That seems dazzlingly fast to me now, but even then I was slow. (And you can see how my mile-splits dropped off significantly if I ran a 5:12 mile).

Every time I've started running in recent years I start to get my mileage up to a 2 or 3 (slow) miles and I get injured. Usually it's a pulled or strained calf muscle.

I recently bought a new pair of running shoes and am trying it again, telling myself to take it easy and not push things.

All of which makes me sound like the biggest jock in the world. I really don't think I am. I just hit my 40s and have struggled with my weight all my life and my triglyceride and cholesterol and blood sugar levels caught up to me. Also, I have time to exercise and I also have a job that involves sitting on my ass all day typing. Getting out and getting exercise helps me stay at the desk, interestingly enough. Also, you know, if you look down the road and think about your 60s or 70s, I'd rather have some fitness to help carry me into that period. (I also started playing guitar. I'm apparently having some thoughts about how I want to spend the back 40).

I do a lot of different sorts of things so I won't get bored and also because the cross-training helps keep me from getting injured. They also do different things for me. Weight liftings works on strength and muscle mass (you lose something like 1% a year after you turn 40 if you don't exercise). Biking works the cardio but keeps the strain off my knees and ankles. Sanchin-ryu primarily helps with flexibility, range of motion, agility and balance, although depending on how I work it it could have cardio and strength benefits as well. Running, in particular, helps me keep the weight off, but it plays hell with the joints, so I can't do it every day, even if I wanted to.

This post, though, isn't about exercising (although I recommend it. You'll be more energetic and it'll be good for you).

It's about writing.

I write a lot of different stuff. Over the course of my writing career I've written short stories, novels, poems, technical articles, magazine articles, online articles, white papers, web content, business reports, market survey reports, straight journalism, features, ad/sales copy, even the occasional ransom note (just kidding). Book reviews, Q&As, and I've even tried my hand at a screenplay (it sucked, but I should probably try it again someday).

Now, to re-emphasize the point of this, I want to mention some authors you might have heard of before.

John Sandford.

Under his real name, John Camp, Sandford won the Pulitzer for his work as a journalist. He's also written several teleplays and nonfiction books, as well as his bestselling novels.

Karl Hiaasen.

Started as a journalist, became a columnist, and, I believe, remains one. Has also recently wrote a nonfiction book about golf.

Lee Child.

Before becoming a novelist, Child was a script and telewriter in England, as well as producer, etc.

Randy Wayne White.

Before becoming a nonfiction writer, White was a fishing guide, but he spent years writing nonfiction pieces about travel, then wrote some novels under a pseudonym, before becoming the novelist he is today.

Sue Grafton.

Started out writing scripts for TV and film before becoming a novelist.

Paul Levine.

Started as a journalist, then became a lawyer, then wrote novels, then wrote for TV, then went back to writing novels.

Robert B. Parker.

College professor, then technical writer for an insurance company, then novelist and telescript and script writer.

Lee Goldberg.

Prior to his success writing for TV, Lee wrote nonfiction pieces (he put himself through college as a freelance writer). He's also written nonfiction books, TV scripts, novels, etc.

I'm sure I could go on and on.

I'm a writer first. The various other subgenres--novelist, report writer, magazine writer, etc., all come second. I'm a writer first.

The point is, try to write different things. It's a good exercise, if nothing else. If you write fiction all the time, take a crack at writing a script for your favorite TV show. Or write a magazine article. It uses different muscles and helps make you a stronger writer overall.

And for those of you whose first reaction was: "Oh, I just can't write that stuff, it just doesn't work for me." I have this to say: I used to say that, too. And then somebody encouraged me to write a magazine article and it sold and I got paid for it and I did another one and the rest is history. Nothing encourages you like a little success.

And two things might happen. One, you might find you like writing other things. And two, you might make some money writing other things.

Cheers,

Mark Terry

My Not-So-Secret Addiction

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:58:00 +0000

July 2, 2008

Today I had to fast and go out to my doctor's office and donate a sample of blood. This was a pretty good opportunity to spend the morning dicking around. And besides, I was hungry, so on the way back I stopped at a McDonald's to pick up something to eat, and wouldn't you know it, the McD's is RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO BORDERS!

I have a Borders credit card for my business card, which essentially means they periodically send me $5 gift receipts to Borders. So if I spend a bunch of money, they give me money to buy books. Damn, life is good.

So I had $25 worth of gift receipts, and I ran in and James Rollins new book was there, "The Last Oracle," so I bought it. Then, as I've mentioned recently, I've been reading nonfiction lately, a major change in my reading habits. I'm now typically reading a novel and a nonfiction book simultaneously and it seems to work for me. I'm reading Bill Bryson's "In A Sunburned Country" which is is hilarious travel book about Australia. Before that I read "Homo Politicus" by Dana Milbanks, which is about politicians. This book up there, "Legacy of Ashes" has been on the edge of my awareness lately, so I bought it today.

And yeah, I recently ordered "Chasing Darkness" by Robert Crais from Amazon, which ought to arrive today. Also, I picked up "Endurance" by SL Viehl, a SF novel that's the third book in the StarDoc series. I've been slowly working through the series, which I enjoy far more than I expected to.

Another example of my addiction is my inability to travel without buying books. Airports suck, generally speaking, but they often have bookstores in them, several, and it's hard for me not to buy a book in one. My trip to Houston wasn't a particularly happy one and I didn't buy any books at airports, but there was a Borders across the street from the hotel, so that's where I bought the Bryson book as well as "Rain Storm" by Barry Eisler. That's his 2nd or 3rd, and I've read all the others, but somehow missed that one.

Crazy. Because publishers still send me books to review, even though I no longer review books. So I've got tons, most of which I really want to read... someday.

Oh well, it's a cheaper habit than nicotine, booze or illegal drugs and seems to have fewer societal consequences. And besides, my wife won't let me have a sex addition. Go figure.

How about you?

Cheers,

Mark Terry

Ssshhhh, Writer At Work...

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:36:00 +0000

July 1, 2008

This photo was taken by my wife. Based on the location of the brown chair, it must be in December because the christmas tree takes the chair's spot and the chair gets shoved over by the couch.

Yes, as you can see, I'm hard at work.

Which is a reminder: hey, it's July. Have you had a writing vacation lately?

Sometimes you just need to recharge your batteries. Most professional writers I know are practically obsessive-compulsive and feel like, "If I don't write every day, I'll lose the ability."

That is to say, we're all neurotic lunatics.

Cheers,

Mark Terry

Why Do You Write?

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:58:00 +0000

June 30, 2008

I'm feeling sort of tired this morning. This probably has less to do with it being Monday morning and more to do with it being the last day of June and it's 61 degrees and drizzling outside at the moment.

When I was thinking about what to write this morning it occurred to me that all my topics were sort of downers for aspiring writers, so maybe I should just shut up.

So instead, I thought I'd ask you: Why do you write?

Oh, but one caveat.

I'm going to eliminate two of your choices.

One, you don't get to write to get rich and famous. Sorry, but this is just not a good way to do that with odds that make winning the lottery look like a wise investment scheme.

And two, I think I've declared this enough, but let me say it again: "I just gotta" is not a valid reason unless, of course, you have been diagnosed with an obsessive-compulsive disorder and have failed to take your medication.

So, Mark, why do you write?

To make money. Because I enjoy it. Because it's fun. Because I like stories. Because I like to play with words. Because I find the process of writing stories to be satisfying in a way few other things are, even though I find the marketing/publishing process for fiction tends to take all the fun out of it. Because I have ideas for stories and I want to see how how they play out and the only way to do that is to write them down.

How about you?

Cheers,

Mark Terry

Hmmm, this means...

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:53:00 +0000

June 29, 2008

The other day, this kid--Sean--only not in duplicate, was in my Saturn VUE and asking me questions. How do you turn on the lights? How did you get the turn signal to signal right?

That sort of stuff.

He's 10, by the way.

Then he pointed. What's that?

"CD player," says I.

"What's this?"

"Turns up the bass or treble."

"What's this?"

"That's the cassette deck," says I, innocently.

Sean looks puzzled. "What's that?"

"It's another type of music format," I said. "It came before CDs."

He shrugged. "I don't know what a cassette looks like."

I had to think about this, but I think I only have 1 or 2 in the house any more. I believe somewhere on my shelf is an audiobook of Michael Chabon's "Wonder Boys." Otherwise, we threw all our cassettes out several years ago.

Sort of makes me feel old, though.

Hell, although 8-Tracks were pretty much dead by the time I came along, a friend's brother still had an 8-Track system when I was Sean's age. And for that matter, I can remember when my brother had a reel-to-reel. How's that for the Stone Age?

How about you? What time warp are you living in?

Cheers,

Mark Terry

p.s. Oh, and just for reference, I was born in January 1964--a couple months AFTER John Kennedy was assassinated.

Friday Miscellaneous

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:07:00 +0000

June 27, 2008

First, some interesting statistics from Publishers Weekly:

Authors & Writers by the Numbers

-- Publishers Weekly, 6/23/2008

185,276: Total number of authors and writers, 2005

39: % increase in authors between 1990 and 2005

51.9: % of authors who work full-time writing

$50,800: Median income for full-time authors, 2005

$38,700: Median income for entire civilian labor force, 2005

$38,800: Median income for all authors, 2005

$47,300: Median income for male authors, 2005

$33,300: Median income for female authors, 2005

54.9: % of authors who are female

10.8: % of authors who are minorities

26.8: % of authors under age 35

83.1: % of authors with at least a bachelor's degree

45.9: % of authors who are self-employed

50,000: Estimated number of writers living in California and New York

1: Rank of Santa Fe, N.Mex., among cities, authors per capita

Source: National Endowment for the Arts study Artists in the Workforce: 1990–2005

* * *

Personally, I find the breakdown lacking in specificity. Does "authors" refer to fiction, nonfiction, both, academic textbooks, academics who write textbooks, business report writers, self-published, POD-published, what?

So, in this case, reader beware, just throwing these stats out there do not meet this particular market researcher and writer's usually rigorous standards for documentation. I'd have to read the original report to determine it's veracity, plus, you know, it's already at least 3 years old. Bah!

* * *

If you haven't popped over to Spy Scribbler's new website about spy novels, you really should. Here's a link.

* * *

We drove to Olivet, Michigan to pick up Ian from karate camp yesterday. That was a little over 2 hours. Then there was a 90 minute "show" or presentation where they do karate stuff. My son's group--the Eagle Kumi (Kumi refers to group of fighters, I guess)--used a lot of sanchin-ryu's techniques in hand-to-hand examples. Lots of knocking each other to the stage. The Dragon Camp--the oldest and largest group, made up mostly of black belts and senseis--showed all sorts of different applications for forms and then actually did the first two katas back to back, which you almost never see. Very impressive. Oh, and Ian also received his paperwork to advance to first degree brown, the same rank I have. After that is black. Kudos, Ian!

On the way home, my wife drove, Ian rode shotgun, and Sean and I were in the backseat. Everybody had brought their iPods except me (because I drove on the way there) and I'm sitting there as we're driving through the night, the windows open, hot air flowing in, listening to all three of them sing along with their iPods--different songs! I will say that Ian and Leanne seemed to be singing and listening to the same Dave Matthews album, but were singing different songs.

* * *

Got two more comments in on the WIP. They're great, although now I'm starting to get discrepancies between all the commenters. These commenters had some issues with things, but often different issues than the first two did, particularly the main character's age. Everyone seems to agree there should be more emotion--4 for 4 on that one. Thank you Stephen and Mary.

I hope the teenage readers get back with me soon, that ought to be interesting.

Have a good weekend.

CHeers,

Mark Terry

Being Critiqued

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Terry) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:03:00 +0000

June 26, 2008

As I mentioned yesterday, I've asked a number of people to read my work-in-progress. To-date, two of you generous folks have read it and responded with your comments.

A little confession: I don't usually do this.

I did early on in my writing. My brother, Pete, was often my beta reader. Later on my friend Rick was. They were both very useful in some ways, less so in others.

This is essentially the first time where I decided, hey, I know a bunch of professional writers, let's ask them for a favor. Also, because the narrator is a 16-year-old girl, I decided to ask some teenage girls if they would read it. (Or as I told one of their mothers: "I need a teenage girl. Guess that sounds kind of odd, huh?")

So far, Erica and Natasha's comments have been extremely useful, although both of them seemed to think my post yesterday displayed an awful lot of self-doubt and induced an existential writing crisis (my life is an existential writing crisis, Erica). Well, yuh, but I'm a writer, what do you expect? Natasha sort of chastised me for it and told me to get over it. (She's a teacher and I bet she's a damned good one, too. Some of her personal comments made me sit up and think.)

I just wanted to comment a little bit about critique groups, suggesting that my experience with this has been a little slim, but I have, over the years, had critiques from a variety of people, including my agents and other friends.

Ya gotta be careful about becoming a weather vane.

Really. One reason I'm hesitant to ask for critiques isn't my fear of being savaged, it's my fear of getting ten different comments and I then feel I should act on all of them. Truth is, if I get 10 different comments, then I'm pretty safe and can go on my merry way. If everybody, or even several sombodies indicate the same thing, then I've got trouble and need to deal with it.

The question then becomes how many and to what degree? Natasha offered suggestions on fixes, sort of self-deprecatingly saying, "But I guess I'm not supposed to offer ideas."

Well, yes and no. I understood exactly what she meant. When I couch ideas to writers to fix problems I tend to say, "Have you considered cutting all this backstory?" or something sort of general but specific all at the same time. Too specific a comment can be a problem sometimes. But that's not what she meant. She was actually suggesting possible story changes. It's easy for writers to get sidetracked (blown off course) by that kind of thing and what I'm doing at the moment is just reading their comments and digesting them. I'm playing my personal chess game with the comments: if I make this change, it will change this and this, but fix this, but then I'll have to do this...

Wouldn't it be nice if someone said, "If you do X then this book will sell."

Like, "If you just change the character's age to 12, then it will sell."

It might, as a matter of fact, but like any amateur who's tackled a plumbing problem on his own, you realize your fixes tend to create more problems, sometimes crucial, critical problems. Before I do something like change the main character that much I have to decide how many plot problems and restructuring is required.

I also have to decide if it's worth it.

And I have to decide if they're right.

There is a definite school of thought out there that suggests you should just stick to your vision and say to hell with everybody's opinions. Sometimes that really works. After all, Tony Hillerman was told by his then-agent (or editor, I forget which) that the mystery was fine but he needed to get rid of all that stuff about the Navajo.

If he had, where would Tony be today? Probably an retired journalism professor from the University of New Mexico.

Still, writing is so damned subjective and when you're inside the frame it's damned hard to see the picture.

The key is to accept the criticism graciously, sift the wheat from the chaff, accept that it's just everybody's opinions, no matter how well-educated, and think for yourself. After all, nobody knows your work the way you do.

Cheers,

Mark Terry