Rosanne Dingli's Blog

Virtues

2012-01-25T13:46:00.000+08:00

One needs skills to be an author. Everyone knows more or less what they are. Few deny that without some skills, success is limited.

There is no denying one also needs virtues. In today's world, youngsters are not instructed directly about virtue. They have no real idea what the concept entails. Which means they have no idea how useful virtues can be.

A sport coach or two might put virtues in their training terminology, and Sunday School might give them a mention, but writing manuals? Literary consultants? I don't think so. Let's define a few, and see how far we get. We are told there are seven identifiable virtues: abstract concepts that can be hard to grasp or apply to the crackpot world of publishing or the stretchy occupation of authoring books. It's worth an attempt to those who are disciplined enough to have written a few books to define what they feel are the character traits or habits that help rather than hinder their career. They must understand that they have a few qualities with merit without which they would not have been able to put together that last book.

patience

kindness

love

humility

diligence

Here they are!

I have tinkered with the four cardinal virtues, the three theological virtues and the seven heavenly virtues to come up with five of my own, which I think as an author, I cannot afford to ignore. They all seem to be self-explanatory, and all who read this might be able to see how they are applicable to authors and the life they lead, the habits they form and the principles to which they would like to adhere.

Image from twostep.com

I am patient to a fault: that one's the easiest virtue I find to follow, but diligence and love? Hm - some work needed there. I certainly do not always love what I do, and do not always work as hard at it as I'd like to be able to.

What about other writers? What about you - do you find your list shorter or longer than mine? Are you good at waiting? Do you feel a pang of envy or humility every time a colleague publishes something fantastic that sells the instant it's out?

Perhaps all authors should make a list they think they should adopt, and without which they might feel at a disadvantage compared to those who have chalked up some sort of success. Or written about a topic they have longed to treat. Or changed genres to one they really always wanted to work in.

Ha! Perhaps this is what all writers should be doing instead of finding more means of exposure on the social media!

Tell me which virtue you feel has recently contributed to some of your success.

Will they come if you build it?

2012-01-11T19:19:00.000+08:00

Anyone who has ever written a whole book will tell you it's tantamount to erecting a baseball or football stadium. Planning, summoning the courage, gathering resources, funding, finding time, seeking like-minded individuals for support, all the figuring out of markets, and then ... publicity and promotions.

And that's where the similarity ends! People flock to stadiums because it's where sport enthusiasts, athletes and participants must meet. I have yet to hear of a sports stadium that never hosted a match, perhaps some sort of stellar event, weekly games, or even a few humble training sessions. I do not think there's such a thing as a stadium that got ignored. It was built, and they came.

Image via WikipediaBooks are different, and so are writing careers. One can build all one likes, but one can never rely on there being an audience. It's a spooky fact that no one might come. The books can very well remain unread, unrecognized, unnoticed. There is no career with books that are unread.

A lot of advice about publicity and promotions for authors is very strange. It all seems to start with Step Two. There are behests to "Send people to your landing page", or "Direct people to your books on Amazon", or "Your blog should invite people to read: have a call to action". All these things require people to address. It's not possible to send people anywhere, or get them to do anything, without having their attention first. Many have asked me about this. And I have asked myself a number of times: where does one find that initial knot of people willing to try a new author out; willing to take an action; willing to read a blog; willing to try out a first chapter?

Unlike a huge stadium, a book has a mountain of competing books among which it is completely hidden. Buried. Overwhelmed. Placing a book on Amazon, starting a blog, setting up a website or ordering a box of paperbacks are all great steps, but they take place in pitch darkness. No 'people' can see them. There are only a few people to tell, but they are not nearly enough to fill your 'stadium'. You might have built it, metaphorically speaking, but who will come? How can they come if they don't know about it? How do you tell the crowd out there? Putting a new book on an unknown blog is like never having done a thing.

They say that all one needs is a thousand true and loyal fans. That makes it easy, because each will tell seven friends, and your books will become popular through word of mouth. Until one tries, one has no idea how difficult it is to gather a thousand readers. If you are reading this and nodding, agreeing that even two dozen sales was a phenomenal result, after a superhuman effort you don't think you could summon again, you are not alone. All the world's new authors are nodding with you.

It is monumentally hard, for most new writers, to gather any interest at all for their work. The hardest thing ever attempted, they start to understand, is to get anyone to read anything you have written. There are many, many books on Amazon that have no ranking - which means no one has ever bought a single copy from the Amazon site. The author might hold a roaring sale at every writers' club meeting or shop signing, or university workshop, but Amazon registered no sales. There are millions, literally millions, of Amazon titles with a ranking over 2,000,000. This means very infrequent sales.

Why does this happen? Where are the people? Why is having a title on an online shop not enough? It's not enough, because new books by new authors are virtually invisible. Someone must tell people they exist. But who can the author tell? How does one address a market? Where are the readers of your book? They are strangers, almost impossible to reach.

It doesn't matter how fancy your blog is - if no one sees it, it matters little what's on it, or whether you promote your books or not. All those clever instructions you keep reading require an audience you cannot understand how to obtain in the first place.

Here are a few suggestions to create that knot of people who might become your first readers.I hope you find a thousand!

- Join an online discussion group concerned with your genre
- Join a number of interactive social media sites
- Comment regularly on a set number of relevant blogs: don't be random
- Seek authors who successfully formed a fan base, and observe what they do
- Be prepared to offer advice and interesting commentary
- Seek out avid readers in your genre
- Start small, but start

These activities will befriend you with a number of like-minded authors, readers, and curious people. If you have enough to offer and you are interesting enough, acquaintances might very well grow into friendships, which you must nurture. Generate a list of email addresses you can use (with permission), and formulate a method of keeping in touch infrequently, with interesting observations or news. Those who do not like this kind of contact will soon let you know. The list will evolve into a fan base.

You might start with five, which might grow to fifty-five in about a year. Remember we dreamed about a thousand? Yes - it takes years, and there's no time to start like the present. It's a new year, the industry is becoming more and more amazing. Go out there and instead of building a stadium, start a game of marbles in the dust, and see who will come out to play.

Are you creating a fan base? A knot of loyal readers? Tell me what you do.

Are you a loyal reader? What do you like about the activities and work of new authors you find?

That's all there is: there isn't any more

2011-12-31T16:54:00.002+08:00

Image via Wikipedia This year, 2011, proved to be a most extraordinary one for me as an author.

I am sure that those of you who have followed its progress, in one way or another, as reader or author, have realized the changes that have taken place in the industry, this year, right under our noses. What is significant to note is that some of the shift was instigated, supported and promoted by a different set of people, for a change.

Rather than the powerful conglomerates affecting change, it has been the individual author, but much more importantly, the individual reader, to direct the way the publishing world has flowed. Authors on their own cannot - and will never be able to - cause or manoeuvre a paradigm shift the like of which we have witnessed since October 2010. Readers have flocked to the works of independent authors and small publishers like never before. Now, to determine which came first is a chicken / egg dilemma people are deciding for themselves. But something happened to book pricing this year. Something happened to the way readers read. Something happened to WHAT is being read, and something big enough happened to change bottom lines.

More able writers than I have addressed the shift and there are some very good blogs to be read that sum up 2011 in a masterful way.

Here, I am going to put down a few sentences on how my career has shifted, in just twelve or so months. My second novel was launched by BeWrite Books in March. In April and May, I started to independently publish my back list of short story collections, with the latest, Encore, coming out a few weeks ago. This has swelled my available titles to ten. But that's not all. In the middle of the year, BeWrite Books accepted my third novel, Camera Obscura, which will be launched in 2012. And I also released a number of short stories for quick reads at affordable prices.

What this has meant to sales of my titles must be seen to be believed. Royalties cheques from BeWrite have never been this good. Sales on Kindle and Createspace for my indie titles are also amazing. They cannot compare with some of the newsworthy hits and their authors who have made the headlines, but for me, they are nothing short of astounding. Not a day goes by without some sales happening somewhere on Earth. This - until this year - was the stuff of dreams for small-name authors, unagented and without the backing machine of a large corporation.

I end 2011 with much hope, and with wishes of the same for the many authors I have met along the way. Many have helped me to make decisions, and to formulated plans of attack, and without them I would still be floundering. Without naming them individually, they include colleagues on LinkedIn discussion groups, who have argued, advised, tried, tested and reviewed until they were blue in the face. Colleagues on ANZauthors, which comprises authors from the Antipodes with a wealth of experience, from which I benefit every day without fail. Colleagues on the much-maligned Kindle threads, whose humour and good nature showed me how to - and how not to - go about discussing my fiction. Individual bloggers who have interviewed and hosted me and my titles on their sites, introducing me to a host of new fans. Editors who have published me previously, in journals, anthologies and as publishers - they have participated and helped. The marvelous team at BeWrite Books, without whose innovation and far-sightedness, According to Luke and Death in Malta would never have seen the light of day.

I must also mention family, friends and those on my emailing list, who receive my missives and act upon them. They include old colleagues from places where I have taught, authors I have met along the way, academics I have worked with, struggling poets, childhood friends and supportive family members. The friends I have made through my children's schools and hobbies, their teachers... so many came to my signings, launches and bought my books. I do mention Robyn Varpins by name - she is the artist who painted a large number of icons and reverential works for my launch. Without her input, the launch would not have been half the wild success we enjoyed.

I doubt there will be another year like 2011. It's been impossibly hard work. I have written the equivalent of two novels in blogs, posts and comments, but it's been more than worth it. Although I do not measure success by numbers of book sales, it does count that I have never sold so many books before, in just twelve months. It is the stuff authors dream of. But it's over now - in the words of Ludwig Bemelmans, there isn't any more. We are all going to have to devise new ways to keep up with the changes, and new writing to supply the canny readers to whom we owe so much.

Thank you one and all - a last comment, perhaps decribing your year, would be most welcome.

Plus ça change ...

2011-12-20T10:13:00.003+08:00

Image via WikipediaAlthough things seem to change very rapidly in the publishing arena, little has altered in the reader's world, except the sheer volume of choice.

Examining the statistics seems amazing to those who know little about the machinations of book publishing. Who on earth is going to read all those millions of books? If one were to count the readers in any single country, one would not find enough to consume the enormous numbers of books being created by the day.

One would have to eliminate those too young to read or purchase books. Or those with financial restrictions that do not allow them to buy a cheap children's book. One must eliminate the illiterate. And remove those who simply do not read or buy books. A proportion of the population borrows from the libraries that are still standing. Some have not touched a book since school. Many chuck books out with childhood, like so many highchairs, strollers, nappies and bottles.

Reading is not for everyone. Although literacy levels continue to rise, they have little to do with whether that literacy applies to book purchasing - people read other material. They do not have to read books - there is enough material around that needs deciphering. The amount of reading one has to do in an interactive game, for example, is tantamount to a small novel.

I stood in Big W yesterday - a department store that carries everything, from hammers and nails to chocolate and dinner sets and toasters, shoes and fishing rods. I waited by an enormous dump bin crammed with cheap paperbacks and looked at the book section, crammed mainly with celebrity cookbooks, sporting biographies and bestselling novels by household name authors. The store buzzed with shoppers, but the book department was almost deserted. Already shrunk to a quarter of its previous size, and occupying floor space equivalent to a large lounge room, it was the only quiet spot in the store.

Interesting. I watched browsers (all female), who gravitated without fail to the colourful children's section.

The digital entertainment section buzzed. Dozens walked away with appliances as I watched. I lost count of the eReaders taken off the shelves, and an assistant promptly came to replenish the shelf with Kindles.

I realized that the sales predictions of the industry would apply mainly to online bookstores. Few were making their book purchases as I looked. In the entire shopping complex, two of the bookstores were no more, and the one left was pushed into a corner, and contained only three shoppers when I came up in the lift.

Different from other years? Marginally. I knew what was going on online - I have watched it all year, for a number of years now. Just because readers have shifted where they buy books does not mean they do it any differently. Even the fact that a large number of bought books remain unread stays the same.

The hardworking author might do well to examine what is happening. I leave the conclusion to them - whether they see the changes in quantity of available books - competition - as heartening or depressing depends on their ability to bring their books to the notice of readers, and the ability of their words to retain their attention.

Reading is alive and well - that is not the issue. It's the over supply that makes authors wonder where all this might go in the next five years or so.

What are YOUR predictions?

Promotions and awards

2011-12-11T17:26:00.000+08:00

It pays to promote - creators of some sort of product know that well. Authors find the need to promote their books an understandable task: it is necessary, yet can prove daunting, puzzling and demands a different kind of mindset. Finding like-minded authors, who see promotion the way you like to think of it, is not an easy task either. Sharing successes and woes is necessary in the new game that's opened up to independent authors and those who publish with small presses.

Publicity comes at a price, and that is time and trouble. But when one is unexpectedly awarded with a nomination, apart from the surprise that comes out of the blue, one is flattered, and made to feel glad. The message is getting out, and some are reading my blog almost as soon as it hits the ether. Thank you, Dan Nader, of Avoiding the Stairs - you have surprised and gladdened me with this nomination. I must say I display this bright green badge with pride. And joy. And gratitude.

It could not have come at a better time.

It comes with a set of instructions: I must nominate other blogs, and I must divulge seven things about myself as an author. Hm - not an easy thing to do, since what I know about myself is not exactly riveting or the sort of thing one can put in a blog with impunity. Let's have a try regardless:

1. I have a real knack for wrapping presents. I proved it several times this week.

2. I never wear necklaces - the only thing I hang around my neck are glasses.

3. I am a very slow reader, and rarely read more than a few pages at a time. The right-left eye movement sends me to sleep like nothing else can.

4. Very hot weather is appalling. I'm a cool weather type. Having Christmas in hot weather is not exactly ideal.

5. I love music, and try to include it in my writing. Not always easy, but the effort is worth it. To find out what I like, read my fiction!

6. I used to be a heraldic artist, so I can draw a lion rampant or a griffin couchant in a space smaller than an inch square.

7. I'm the calmest of creatures in a traffic jam, and I can wait a long time for things to arrive in the mail, but I can't wait for release of my forthcoming thriller, Camera Obscura.

Now to nominate five more deserving bloggers for the Versatile award. This is very very difficult, so bear with me while I think. These are places where I read and comment frequently.

Drumroll ...

Pic from squidoo.com

1. Helen V's Imagine Me at Clarion South

2. Mark Hunter's Slightly Off the Mark

3. Stuart Aken's Daily Word Blogs

4. Mark Nichol's Daily Writing Tips

5. Tom Kepler's Writing Blog

There - that wasn't so hard. Now I must let these guys know. If you know them and already read these blogs, pass on the good news. If you have never heard of them, now's the time - click over to their neck of the woods, and enjoy the read.

Authors and book sales

2011-12-04T15:56:00.001+08:00

It would be an unusual author who did not wonder from time to time about their book sales. Some say it's not what they write for, since the satisfaction of putting work 'out there' is all they need. Others produce a few copies for friends and family, and the joy of being read by their small circle is quite enough. A few dread the publicity, or what could happen if fame or notoriety knocked at their door, so they hang back.

Image via WikipediaBut realistically speaking, most authors have some sort of level of interest in how their titles do on the market. Curiosity, eagerness, wishful thinking or a purely commercial mind-set will eventually push an author to harbour the desire to know how a title is doing, as far as sales are concerned. Not reviews. Not favourable comments on blogs. Not letters or emails from distant relatives or friends. No ... sales. Simple numbers of sales as they appear in a column of figures. Or on a pie-chart. Or a graph. They are not interested in global book sales of all the authors in a genre, or all the authors in a given region. They want to know how many books they have sold.

Most independent publishers send out half-yearly royalties statements to their authors. It used to be quarterly, but time and staff restrictions have seen the periods lengthen somewhat. So every six months, authors' eyes travel up and down those columns of figures and seek ... you've guessed it. Numbers of sales. How many copies of any title sold in that six-month period. How many people clicked that button. How many copies Amazon posted off. How many paperbacks in paperbags?

davidderrico.com

With so many turning to self-publishing (it's also possible these days to write that down without the need for euphemistic synonyms!) the ability to read sales figures almost as soon as the sale takes place has come about. Hold an account with Createspace or Kindle, and you hold the facility to view your figures in real time minus one hour! Oh goody gumdrops. Not.

This convenience, this facility, has the in-built ability to drive you mad. Make an addict of you. Take you from your writing. Sales could become the bane of your life. Arrggh! It used to be submission fever. Agent allergy. Rejection phobia. Now it's figure fatigue. I know some authors who keep a daily eye on what's happening on Amazon, Sony Ebook Store, Smashwords, and a couple of other online retailers. Daily. I know more than just a couple who have a peep many times a day. This can do a number of things to one's self-esteen, one's general morale, and one's schedule. It can completely stifle the will to carry on writing, or it can fill one with such euphoria it's impossible to write another word.

Every second day is a scenario that seems more sane. Let's face it - a sale is a sale. Its record will not fade away if one waits until the morrow. Weekly, too. A weekly peep will still give you a great idea. If an author were to look once a month, even, the figure is sure to gladden.

The temptation to look, however, is enormous. It's more than just an itch or idea. It's a compulsion.

Isn't it?

A weak character can make a strong protagonist

2011-11-25T11:10:00.001+08:00

Most writing manuals, courses on creative writing and authors' handbooks tell the writer to create strong characters. This makes one visualize tough personalities, imperturbable people who march through the written pages like nothing can flap them. Like they are made of steel. Titanium. Sterner stuff than we meet in our daily humdrum lives.

Strong character

Hm - on the other hand, authors are required by their audience to be believable. To create characters one might enjoy meeting. Or fear, or avoid, or love or admire, in a realistic way. To populate novels with memorable characters is certainly the requirement of today's demanding reading public.

Strong characters - two words one often finds in book reviews. Still, one has to wonder what strong really means. Exploring this in depth is vitally necessary to those who write character-driven stories: stories that stay in the heart not merely because of heart-stopping action, but because of the heart-rending emotion and psychological drama through which the author has led the protagonist.

We all have personality flaws and weaknesses - and secretly, we like to find similar failings in books, especially novels. Relating to a heroine who falls for the wrong bloke, but comes through victorious in the end makes for entertaining reading to some. Relating to a hero who dithers, ducks and weaves but reaches some sort of decision-making stance by the end can make for a good read. Many readers like it when tough-guy baddies have a chink in their armour. Since there is no such thing as a totally strong and unassailable character in life, we hardly expect to find it in fiction.

Brad Pitt as Achilles

Weakness in character, an Achilles' heel, a flaw or habit that reins in a protagonist and makes her worthy of attention can be interesting, and serve to make a novel that much more entertaining and intriguing.

In my forthcoming romantic thriller, Camera Obscura, my hero struggles valiantly with his weak side. He wonders why he cannot turn himself around, exit his inertia. He finds a woman who - in contrasting ability to his - takes charge of his life, at least for an interval, and makes him dizzy with ... with a feeling he cannot analyze. Oh dear. This man has weaknesses and failures. And yet, I have made that a strength. A strength for the novel and what it means. I hope I have imbued Bart Zacharin with enough muscle to satisfy a reader seeking change.

Perhaps that is what readers do seek: a weak character with failures much like their own, who finds an impasse but manages to overcome it.

Stay with me for the next few months, until Camera Obscura hits the online bookshops. Read chapter one by clicking on this link, and try and figure how I take Bart Zacharin from his state of inertia and make of him a fine hero one would not mind keeping and following.

Tell me what kind of character you like, if you are a reader. If you are an author, do you relish putting your characters through trials and tribulations that make them stronger?

Saint Luke's Secret World

2011-11-13T16:19:00.000+08:00

Image via Wikipedia

The Four evangelists by Jakob Jordaens

There were four evangelists. They did their writing during the first century AD, and what they wrote is now lost to us in the original. As one would imagine for such important writings - in an age when literacy was either low or non-existent among the ordinary town and village populations of the world - the scrolls were copied many many times and learned off by heart to be passed along verbally to the faithful, by those who took it upon themselves to spread the word.

There were historic intervals when supporting or disseminating the Christian faith was dangerous, if not lethal. Reciting what the evangelists left behind as testaments was not always safe. The copies of the gospels, as they came to be known, were hidden, secreted, buried, lost, stolen, forgotten, left behind and discarded. As often happened in history, some hiding places were only discovered centuries after the caretaker of a scroll died.

The faithful spread the word, and the evangelists suffered for their diligence and zeal in getting the word out. Their followers, translators and transcribers did their best to further the dissemination of their important message. Despite - or because of - this zeal, mistakes were often made, and what we read in the scriptures today is in all probability quite different from the original writings the four testament writers took pains to put down for posterity. What we are left with is the subject of study, controversy and conjecture by scholars. Is it exactly what the evangelists wrote?

So many stories - myths and legends - grew around the origins of the gospels, who had written them, and the ways they were copied, translated and interpreted, that it was difficult to come upon one unifying decision. Conclusions and pronouncements were made by kings and popes, and some were contentious enough to incite great debate or outright wars.

When Jakob Jordaens painted the picture you see here, he might have done it with something other than devotion or reverence. The origins and motivations of the evangelists must have been on the artist's mind. Controversy surrounds the reason why this respected Flemish painter portrayed three old men and one rather young one. Who is the youngest one? Is it Luke? Was Jordaens privy to a secret about the identity of this evangelist? We must remember that according to historians, Luke never met Jesus, but did meet Mary. Did the Flemish artists of Jordaens's time know something disputable about Luke's identity that has remained a secret?

Find out in According to Luke, a novel that takes the secret controversy and blows it apart. As an author, I took on a lot of research, and found that a considerable number of Flemish artists portrayed Luke in an androgynous way - unbearded, smooth-skinned, and with eyes averted. Why did they do this? They must have shared some secret about the evangelist who traveled with Saint Paul and wrote the Acts of the Apostles. What did they know?

Read According to Luke and see how this exciting thriller gives a reasoned, researched solution to the question. See how Saint Luke's secret world was so dangerous that murder, extortion and mayhem were undertaken to keep it that way... secret.

Nothing beats F2F

2011-11-10T11:37:00.001+08:00

Yesterday, I gave a talk about According to Luke, together with Robyn Varpins, the artist who created all the icons and other reverential artworks for the launch of the novel in May 2011.

Atwell Art Centre, Perth WA

We spoke to a room of very enthusiastic art patrons and practitioners, who were very intrigued by the interface between fiction and visual art. Talking in tandem, Robyn and I discussed the various aspects of the whole project.

I spoke about how I conceived the story and the characters. Robyn spoke about materials, inspiration, and working to a theme. Some of her icons were on display, and aroused a lot of interest. The aged timber supports, paints used, additions such as gold leaf... the audience was spellbound, and one could feel the questions start to form.

Although there was no time to read an excerpt, since this was a Wednesday lunchtime event with most people engaged for something else later in the day, it was lovely to see the rapt expressions of the varied audience. They watched the scrolling slide show on a large screen to one side, which showed various shots of locations from the novel, ancient icons, publisher BeWrite Books logo, locations used, and the cover of the paperback, of course.

Several copies stood on a table, in a display that included several Rubik's cubes, to highlight the significance of the cover illustration - a design by Tony Szmuk. In a very brief sidebar, I commented on the relationship one develops with the publishing team, and what joy and satisfaction can be derived from it. It is very much a part of what an author's life is all about.

Questions from the audience revealed a fascination with all things visual, and how they can relate to the human condition, fiction, and a host of other ingredients. A couple of audience members admitted to a fondness for writing, and all were avid readers - sometimes an author just gets lucky! Robyn and I could have answered questions all afternoon, but Deb Weber, our hostess for the event, wound up the session and opened the 'shop'. Yes, sales were very healthy for both books (they were all claimed off the table!) and icons, so Robyn and I both went home very pleased with the whole day.

Madonna icon by Robyn Varpins

One of the questions we were asked was whether we were going to attempt another collaborative project similar to the one for According to Luke. Robyn and I both nodded with the same enthusiasm. The success of this project is making us think very hard about the upcoming launch for my next thriller, Camera Obscura.

Since it involves visual art again, I have no doubt we shall be able to enthrall the growing body of fans for this kind of overlap between the different disciplines.

Do you read books about art? Leave a comment if seeing images from a novel portrayed in real paintings would elicit a shift in perception for you.

Do you write books about art? How does collaboration with an artist sound to you?

Inspiring locations

2011-11-02T10:21:00.001+08:00

Authors are often asked on interviews where they find their inspiration. Some find that question hard to answer, since seasoned writers can find triggers in almost everything: nature, real life situations, observation of behaviours, and more. In fact, anything to do with the human condition can get a seasoned author thinking creatively.

Overlooking Grand Harbour, Malta

I have often said that words themselves can drive me to write: a great sentence read in a newspaper article, a long-lost proverb, a line out of a play or song, or something as prosaic as a billboard can form the basis of a whole chapter or short story.

But nothing inspires me in the same way as a good location. More than the visual aspects alone, I can be captivated by what more imaginative people sometimes call the 'spirit of a place'. My pragmatic nature shies from words such as 'spirit', but I do hold that places are much more than what one can see in them.

A visit to a location sets off a series of questions in my writer's mind, and they are to do with history, origin, and the various footsteps that tramped that place through the years; the eyes that saw it, and the various stories that might have taken place in the very spot where one stands with one's camera.

Take this picture on the right. I stood right there in 2004, and waited until dusk bathed Grand Harbour, in Valletta with a veil of darkness, which was suddenly transformed by golden floodlights that turned the whole magnificent inlet into quite another place. The battlements and bastions were turned upside down in the water, and even the plainly practical port structures such as cranes looked romantic and meaningful. I had to use that scene - but more than just a scene: I had to use that feeling.

I gave the sentiment to a protagonist in a novel that will be released soon: I made him stand right in that spot, taking photos and feeling the enormous shunt the sheer history of a place can give a person. It's like a kick in the derriere that puts one little life into perspective. In the face and presence of some locations - and the essence packed into them - everything is pushed willy-nilly into perspective.

When the characters in my fiction have a problem, I send them to some magnificent place. I make them stand in some location where many before them have experienced drama: politics, romance, religion, ethics, the personal drama of relationships. All these are dwarved by the magnificence and meaningfulness of place. Place outlives them all, yet absorbs them all, and becomes imbued with their essence.

We could all make lists of locations that seem to embody history and drama. Yet there is not one square mile in any country that could be said to be free of history, politics, religion, personal drama and romance.

Pic courtesy www.last.fm

My forthcoming novel Camera Obscura (click to read Chapter One) is more than any other of my works of fiction, perhaps, concerned with the magic of locations. Scenes take place in medieval places such as Mdina, where ancient portals can mystify the traveller, and Le Havre, in France (left), where constant change is just as intriguing and engaging. Compare this little photo with the big painting on top - yes, it's the same place, but what a difference! The same person, the same artist, the same novelist, can experience different feelings, even when visiting the same place on different occasions, or with a different companion, or with another camera.

Novels would be nothing without the places in which they take place. Whether these are real ones the reader can visit, or totally fabricated by some very imaginative author, the place must contain the story and magnify it. The importance of this cannot be emphasized too much.

How do locations in books affect you, as a reader?

If you are an author, how much time do you spend researching a good place in which to anchor your story?

Leave a comment - a discussion about locations would be fascinating.

Short fiction rules - OK

2011-10-23T16:40:00.001+08:00

Short stories are back in style. Were they ever out, you ask. Well, yes. During the long and powerful reign of big-name corporate publishers, it was difficult to make much headway with short fiction. Authors were always told a number of things about short stories, and they believed them. So did the reading public. What were these things?

Image via Wikipedia Raymond Carver Short stories do not sell. It was utterly pointless sending a collection to a publisher or agent as a new author. Collections were not bought because of the myth that collections do not sell. They do, of course - just not in the quantities that would make them viable as competition for novels. And the big publishers compete against each other using novels and non-fiction, so it was rather pointless offering something they could not play with.

Short stories by successful authors are the only viable proposal. Despite the success of Raymond Carver, Andre Dubus and Annie Proulx with short stories, before they published novels, this myth was repeatedly put about by those who found them hard to understand.

Image via Wikipedia Andre DubusShort stories are not taken seriously by readers. Readers have always loved and sought short stories - and verifying this truth is easy when one remembers the popularity of short story journals, anthologies and magazines. The New Yorker readers thrived on some of the best short fiction authors of the last century had to offer.

The number of movies based on short stories can be counted in hundreds: literally. Because of its succinct, distilled quality of prose, a short story lends itself to action, and the necessarily visual quality of film. No words are wasted on heavy description, and the director can go to town with interpretation.

In the 21st century, readers live lives dictated by the clock and the various digital appliances they carry about. Time is tight, and reading is done in snatches, in the oddest of places. Nothing lends itself better to this situation than the short story, which can be grabbed and digested in a very limited window of opportunity. I can think of nothing better than waiting at the dentist (which I have done a bit of lately) armed with a Kindle and a nice virtual stack of short stories by a number of varied authors.

Time seems to shrink-wrap itself around a short story, especially if it is of the quality that takes on enormous dimensions, with impressions to match. The impact of one of Andre Dubus's stories is equal, if not greater, to that of a great novel: it stays in the memory just as long, and its premise has the concentration and balance that takes all the genius an author can muster. There is much, much more play with words and juggling with spaces and suspense in a piece of short fiction.

Way back in the 90s, short fiction was my genre. Short stories might be easy to read, but they are the devil to write well. They need an entirely different mind-set and game plan to a novel, and they require mastery of vocabulary and what writing teachers like to term 'strong' verbs. They are a challenge, and great fun to write. And I wrote many.

Now, in the second decade of the new millennium, armed with my old skills which I am dusting off and reinstating, I find the short story to be a challenge once more - not merely in the writing, but also in promotion and marketing. Publishing them piecemeal for the Kindle is easy, which brings quick feedback and makes it easier to decide whether the game is worth the candle.

My latest one is called The Beige Porsche, and is one of a series that uses cars as a vehicle (ha! couldn't resist that one). I would appreciate comments on whether you like short fiction, have ever bought or read it, and whether writing it is as much a challenge to you as it feels to me.

Book covers - the great debate

2011-10-16T14:11:00.001+08:00

A Cate Myers design

Many authors love their book covers so much they have posters of them made, framed, and hung in their study or office. I must admit to liking some of the covers of my books that much.

When BeWrite Books sent me this cover for approval, way back in 2005, for my first novel Death in Malta, I fell in love with it at once. My fans loved it too, and this first novel has been a nice steady success ever since. Sometimes, a cover and the content of a novel just click together, and readers sense this.

A Tony Szmuk design

I feel that typography is one of the most important elements on a cover: after all, one could dispense with everything else. The words - title and author's name - are not something a book can travel without. I like solid no-nonsense typefaces whose style seems to match with the book's content.

When BeWrite Books sent me the cover for According to Luke earlier this year I was not immediately convinced. It took me a while to see the genius of Tony Szmuk's design. Ever since the book was released, I have received any number of compliments about the novel's appearance. People praise its appropriate 'puzzle' suggestion, and the background that indicates the watery location of Venice.

It's far from easy to design a book cover. Designers are visual people - and they rarely have time to read a whole novel in order to conjure the image that might interpret and promote it best. By the same token, authors are 'word' people who rarely understand visual prompts as well as those trained to understand what makes people love a cover. Or better still, makes them buy a book because they like the cover.

A Rosanne Dingli design

When it came to designing covers for my story collections, issued independently from a bunch of out of print collections, whose rights had reverted to me, it was a steep learning curve. All the years of art school seemed not to mean much at first, but my training there - and a background working in magazines and publishing - soon put me right. My latest effort, Encore, is here on the right. It's wrapped around my latest collection, released in time for Christmas gift-giving, so I hope it is suitably festive. Apart from being merely seasonal, however, it is meant to carry a bunch of stories all written around a music theme.

To come up with what you see, it took me a fortnight of playing around with concepts, images, words and colours. I am not the fastest person on earth to make a decision, let alone the two dozen or so selections one must make to create a cover. The process was slow and deliberate this time. The opinions of a number of groups and individuals were taken into account. Now the little book is out, and I hope will gladden me with the approval of a whole lot of happy gift-buyers this Christmas.

Your opinion is required: What do you think of the covers of all my books? These are only three ... there are several more, which can be seen on my website.

A candid opinion is a rare thing - I would like as many as you can muster. Leave one or two in a comment box for me.

An Interview with Morgen Bailey!

2011-10-12T21:50:00.004+08:00

At last - the shoe is on the other foot. Morgen Bailey, doyenne of online interviews, has accepted my invitation. This interviewer par excellence has allowed me into her virtual 'office' and has answered my specially-tailored questions. This is a rare event, so do take your time. Make a cup of tea, because it's long, and very enjoyable.

Morgen Bailey

Hiya Morgen, and welcome! You are known as the intrepid interviewer who gets hold of some interesting writers and grills one every so often… very often! How does it feel right now to be on the other side of the microphone?

“Intrepid interviewer” really? Wow. :) I’m very lucky actually because the interviewees tend to come to me rather than the other way round and yes, I’ve had some authors whose books I already happen to have, or see out and about after they’ve approached me which has been thrilling, and humbling, in both cases.

I won’t waffle on (because I know I’m good at it) but it all started because I was asked a couple of times (WhoHub and Teresa Morrow) to complete a questionnaire and really enjoyed it (so I guess that answers the last bit of your question) and my blog was a couple of months old (I started it at the end of March 2011 because I’d heard it a good thing to do) so I thought I could do this myself and the rest, as they say, is histoire. Well, they’d say that in France.

Now that I have interviewed so many authors (over 100 to-date) I’m getting a bit braver with asking other authors. Some ‘household’ names have said “yes” but they’re very busy so inside I’m jumping up and down but am realistic enough to know that it may either be a while or may not happen but I’m really enjoying it although it’s hard work (I post an interview each morning then an author spotlight or guest blog in the evenings) but I’ve never been shy of that, which is just as well isn’t it because I want to be a writer full-time.

I’ve just secured Katie Fforde (who I knew was a friend of one of my writing friends Sue Moorcroft) as the competition judge for the 2011 H.E. Bates Short Story Competition (http://www.hebatescompetition.org.uk) which is run by one of the writing groups I’m involved in (would it be too shameless to mention them? I’ll risk it http://www.northamptonwriters.org.uk) so maybe I’m braver than I thought but I’ve not worked up to asking her to take part in my blog… yet. :)

Your name is easy to spell for me, since it means ‘tomorrow’ or ‘morning’ in Flemish, so I think it’s very pretty. I also have a name that is easily misspelled. It has to do with being an unusual person – how have you dealt with being singular and noticeable in your life?

Ah thank you. That’s very sweet of you to say but I’ve actually cheated as (for anyone who read my interview no.100) it’s a pseudonym. My real name’s very ordinary (Alison) and I love being someone else, although at times I do feel a bit of a fraud, not sure why really.

My dog (whose picture is splattered around the internet almost as often as mine) is Bailey and my previous dog was Morgen. I have German connections going back many (over 30) years so that’s why I went with the unusual spelling. Sometimes I wonder whether it was the right thing to do (as it’s so often spelled the normal way; Morgan) but I think once it sticks, Morgen is more memorable and I like it being a bit different. Besides, the domains for Morgan Bailey were already taken (I actually checked after I’d set up my website) by a coffee company, construction company and porn star – that makes for an interesting conversation!

You prefer to have your avatar precede you wherever you go – who made the portrait, and how much like it are you really? I’m talking about personality rather than looks – what do you think it says about you?

I’ve just changed my Twitter picture to the photo that inspired the caricature because author Marika Cobbold (who I met when I was volunteering at Chorleywood Lit Fest November 2010 – she’s great!) was having trouble changing her picture so I changed mine and relayed the steps and when she saw the new one she said she loved and that I should keep so I have.

The other one I use is of Bailey but not so often or he’d get too bigheaded… he ‘uses’ his big brown eyes enough as it is. :)

A local cartoonist called Adrian Teal (he’s easily Googleable) drew it (I love it but I know my mum’s not keen – sorry Adrian – but it’s a caricature, they’re supposed to be exaggerated). I walk past his studio on the way to / from work three times a week and I love cartoons so one day I emailed him and arranged to take some photos in. He does a lot of work for Private Eye and the likes so said it would be a while but took less than a month so I was pleased (and was £70 which I think was great value). I have the original 10”x8” picture which he scanned and emailed to me.

I know you said not looks but I’d say it’s pretty close; I have a Roman nose (not sure why as it’s not inherited from my parents… although after hitting the bottom of a swimming pool diving off a 5m board – we’re a sporty family – my mum’s nose has never quite been the same) and do catch the sun although the first version Adrian emailed me was even redder and I don’t drink that much so I asked him to tone it down a bit. Oh and he’s given me blue eyes which I’ve always wanted (mine are grey / green)… and a thinner waist – they were worth the £70! As for personality, I guess it makes me look approachable (I like to think I am) and happy (which I try to be) with sparkly eyes which I think is my passion.

After having interviewed so many different authors, what have you learned about writers in general?

How many of us there are. That sounds a bit daft but since I’ve been involved with these blog interviews I’ve been paying (even) more attention to books for sale in the charity shop (Red Cross) I volunteer at (I’m their ‘book lady’) and car boot sales etc and there are so many names in amongst the ‘household’ ones, which is great because it means that people are not just sticking with the top x%. When I see them I buy books of people I’ve encountered (so to speak) and started a bookcase of them but that’s now spilled into the box room as I’ve met a few at events (yes, in the flesh!)… chatting with Mark Billingham and Michael Robotham in the ‘green room’ at Oundle Lit Fest (my second volunteering experience) in March 2011 has got to be a highlight. Mark was on Radio Litopia (http://litopia.com/radio) recently – that was fun.

Morgen, your work runs the danger of being eclipsed among all the online work you do that’s more about writers and their craft than about you and your fiction. Where do your motivations lie – and where do you fit in?

Good question. Although I’m loving every minute I am conscious that I’m not getting time for my own writing and my life is a constant battle against time but then so it is, I’d say, for the majority of writers, housewives, retired folk (my mum’s a keen gardener and that eats the hours) et al and I’m very lucky, I only work part-time but could so do with the extra 20.5 hours a week (plus travelling / getting ready time) for writing. I think if I didn’t work I’d have a better balance but bills have to be paid. It’s a goal, but as long as my editor, Rachel, has something of mine to work on I’m happy. She’s eaten and spat back out my 365-day writer’s workbook and currently has a short story collection / writing guide to work through so I’m concentrating on the covers etc. at the moment.

For me, at the moment, I partially selfishly see the blog as a marketing tool, for every new contact I make there’s someone new to mention my books to (when they’re ready – I’m hoping in the next few weeks) but not go mad. A round robin email per new book would be plenty. The fastest way to get de-followed on Twitter is to say “come buy my book” every other Tweet. I think a fair balance (which I think I saw on a LinkedIn thread a while back) is 90% useful info (and I have lots of that thanks to the handouts I do for my writing group, guest blogs etc) and 10% tout… or better still 99% / 1%. That’s easy to say as my books aren’t ready yet. I dare say once they are I’ll be wanting to shout it from the rooftops. :)

None of the writers you have worked with failed to notice your indefatigability. (It’s a real word – I’m sure you love it!) Where do you get the extra four hours to every day you seem to have more than everyone else?

By not sleeping them, in a word (well, four). Indefatigability – love it! I love making up words (it’s in our Terms & Conditions isn’t it?) although you’re right it is a proper word. I guess I hide behind aforementioned avatar but I put it down to passion. Having left school (coughs) years ago not knowing what I wanted to do (so ended up being a secretary which has been really useful for the old typing speed) I fell into writing by default working my way through the local university prospectus (I’d done the languages and computing courses) and joined crime writer Sally Spedding’s class (which I took over in 2008 when she moved to Wales) and have been hooked ever since.

Tell us a bit about your favourite novel, and where we can find it. Where can we find out more about you and your work? Where can we see covers for your books?

Kate Atkinson

As mine aren’t ready yet, I’ll mention my favourite authors; Kate Atkinson and Roald Dahl. I’m a BIG fan of short stories (and that’s what I write most of, although I’ve written four novels which will eventually become novellas – cutting out the waffle) and love dark tales. Kate’s aren’t dark but their quirky. I keep looking out for her appearances and missed out on her being near to my mum’s (where I used to live) by a couple of days which was really annoying. Still, Kate did bring out ‘Started Early, Took the Dog’ hardback on my birthday (19^th August) last year which was very generous of her. :) I recorded her ‘Case Histories’ TV series when it come out a few weeks ago but I’ve not watched it yet as short story author Helen M Hunt wants to see it again (who I only recently found out lives in the same town as me; we met and get on… well, like the proverbial burning house) so we are going to have a marathon veg out sometime soon.

Roald Dahl

As for Roald it’s too late but my dad met him (he was his local photographer) and took a video at Sophie’s birthday party – sadly I don’t think we kept a copy. My mum still lives near the museum and I’ve shamefully not gone yet, something to do in the winter I think.

My blog is http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com and website http://morgenbailey.com but the latter is a shell really. They both have links to my Facebook and Twitter profile. My covers are somewhere between my brain and the Picasa software that one of my Monday night writers (hi Denny – she’s also my unpaid gardener – we swap skills) introduced me to recently… I like PhotoShop but this is so great (and free).

Let's tell everyone what you really do, shall we?

Morgen is foremost a writing-related blogger, but also hosts the weekly Bailey’s Writing Tips audio podcast, two in-person writing groups (based in Northampton, England), is the author of numerous short stories, four and a half novels (which she’s reworking for eBooks), articles (most recently for the NAWG Link magazine), has dabbled with poetry but admits that she doesn’t “get it”, and is a regular Radio Litopia contributor. She also belongs to two other local writing groups (one of which runs the annual HE Bates Short Story Competition) and when she’s not at her part-time day job, as a secretary, she writes, researches for her writing group, writes a bit more, is a British Red Cross volunteer and walks her dog (often while reading, writing or editing) and reads (though not as often as she’d like), oh and sometimes she writes.

Thank you for accepting to do this.

Delighted to Rosanne, thank you for asking. It was lovely to be on this side, and to have very different questions to mine!

Writers and money

2011-10-07T22:09:00.000+08:00

Many writers say they write because they have to. Many say it's a passion they give in to. Others declare they are addicted and cannot stop writing, while a few admit they hope to strike it lucky and sell thousands of books a month.

Pic: Royalty review council

I suspect more belong to the latter group than would willingly and candidly agree. It must be the dream of all authors to discover one bright day, on opening the email that contains their half-yearly royalties statement, that sales exceeded all their expectations. Show me an author who would not love to be blown away by figures in tens of thousands.

The reality is that for most writers large figures are the stuff of dreams. The realistic author understands the nature of the market, the fickle aspect of retaining a readership, and the difficulty of publicity and promotions. Most people in the entertainment industry - and that is where fiction belongs for most people - will attest to the fact that they must have a 'real job' to feed their writing habit. Any artistic undertaking generally means that the hours spent in pursuit of that art are rarely all remunerated. Only big name authors and those near the top of the mid-list come anywhere near making enough to live comfortably. Some teach, others hold down a job in some other industry, and others have a supportive partner or spouse who subsidizes those long unpaid hours.

Image via Wikipedia Dan BrownThis is not to say that there aren't authors who do make a comfortable income - of course they are. And it's so comfortable it makes the news. Telling people you are an author sometimes brings on reactions and comments that are entertaining: there is a myth or misconception that all authors make as much money as Dan Brown or John Grisham or JK Rowling. Some think it's as easy as John Locke and Amanda Hocking seem to have found it. Few realize how hard these authors work, what they endured to get where they are, and the reality of the figures attached to their success.

Each book sold brings an author less than three dollars in royalties at the end of the day. Working out how many books one must sell to cover one electricity bill is a lesson in realization of a dismal fact. It is exceedingly hard to write for a real living. Of all those in Australia who claim to be writers, only a very small percentage make enough to maintain a moderate lifestyle.

It could be depressing to realize this, but it can also be liberating. Nothing prevents people from holding down a job and also writing books. Many understand the artistic quality of having to subsidize society, rather than the other way around. Like I said before: it's a rare artist who gets paid for all the hours it takes to conceive and create, adjust and perfect something that will please or entertain an audience. Whether it's writing, painting, acting, sculpting or playing an instrument, there are long, long hours of practising, editing, drafting... chiseling at that block, either practically or metaphorically, that will never be paid for.

Authors do not count their days in billable hours. Some feel they are working all the time - writing in their heads, promoting with their chat, visiting places and researching material with which to build the next chapter. Some feel it's simply not work, but incredible pleasure derived from a pastime or undertaking that is so enjoyable it would seem almost sinful to be paid for. All that ... and money too?

What authors give society is impossible to price. True, it would be nice for us to be recompensed in some sort of 'fair' way, but most realize it's an unrealistic expectation. What authors give is time, creativity, talent and a gift for putting into words what can be felt, lived and loved. Let us not look at the most commercial and well-paid among us - let us instead look at the ones who donate freely of their time and talent, knowing it might never be noticed, let alone valued. Let us consider the truly amazing body of work created not because it might one day make millions, but because it might one day make a reader wipe away a tear, or chortle with delight, or sigh with joy.

Margaret Sutherland - Guest Blog

2011-09-25T14:06:00.002+08:00

I would like you to meet an author who has jumped into the fray to help me out during a period when I am overwhelmed with work. I am very grateful.
Margaret Sutherland is an author with a large body of work. She has written fiction of the full-length and short varieties with great success, and is taking the floor this week. Please make her welcome.

WRITING AND WORK

“Don’t give up your day job!”

This gratuitous advice to authors suggests that, as there’s no money in it, writing isn’t real work, and for the money part, that’s true for most of us. Novelists and short story writers don’t draw regular paychecks.

So isn’t writing work?
Of course it is, if work implies regular effort carried out for reward. It’s just that the varied rewards of writing may not be measured in cash.

We still need money and most of us do have some other form of paid work. Magpies that we are, we will gather experience for future writing, in the way that Somerset Maugham used his training as a doctor for ‘Liza of Lambeth’ and ‘Of Human Bondage’.

As a young woman, my occupation was raising three children and keeping a home. In the ’60’s that wasn’t considered work. Only when I suggested taking a paid part-time job did the issue arise. Who would do whatever it was I was doing all day? I postponed taking the job. Instead I turned to writing. That probably saved my sanity, but nobody called it work. It was my little hobby in Suburbia. (Guess what my early novel ‘The Love Contract’ was about.)

In later life I qualified as a piano and guitar teacher, (my current day job). I needn’t think hard about how music has infiltrated my fiction. In ‘The Sea Between’ there’s a procession of characters. I’m throwing a little get-together for them right here. Let me introduce you: irritable Mr Casubon, gifted musician forced to support his large family by teaching; Julian Moxham, ambitious bipolar cellist; shy pianist Dot, briefly a nun.

And from ‘Leaving Gaza’, here’s Heath Barnes, retired now from the Conservatorium but still teaching music at home. (On the quiet, a lovely man, but a terrible frustration to his wife, who paints. Trouble brewing there.)

Let’s move on. You know how rackety arty people are.

Behind this closed door, the sick and elderly are celebrating life. How resilient they are! By now you’ll have gathered I also worked as a nurse? After training in the ’70’s, I was employed in Women’s and Baby Health, Aged Care and Migrant Health. The experiences from this period fill a whole book; life stages and characters who people my just-released paperback and e-book, ‘The Last Party’.

Well, excuse me. It’s time to go. Old friends are calling and then it’s back to work.

MARGARET SUTHERLAND is a New Zealand writer who has lived in Australia for twenty years. She has published seven novels and several collections of short stories, has held the New Zealand Scholarship in Letters and has received two Australia Council writing fellowships. Her work has been included in many anthologies. For further details, visit Margaret's website at www.margaretsutherland.com.

Thank you Margaret - most readers would have clicked on the book covers by now. Our curiosity is roused. Leaving comments should start a discussion about writing and work.

Guest blog: Tom Kepler on poetry

2011-09-12T16:47:00.001+08:00

This week, I have a guest blogger taking the floor.

Some of you might know I started off life as a published writer with poetry. Although I haven't done much since the 1990s, after publication of my collected poems All the Wrong Places, I have kept an eye on the scene, building fascination about poems that tell a story and fulfill the narrative sequencing sought by readers of fiction.

Tom Kepler is my guest blogger today. He delves into this subject much better than I ever could. His collection Bare Ruined Choirs is worth keeping handy, for the occasional foray into a gentler, more contemplative read that elicits understanding of the human condition, of human emotion.

Without further ado, here's Tom.

Poetry That Tells a Story

We'll start not with "poetry" but with "poetic" to lessen the clicking sound of readers mousing to another website.

"How poetic of you!" and "How poetic!" are common enough sayings, and what those expressions mean is pretty clear to everyone: poetry extending into prose, words used with greater intensity, more meaning packed into fewer words.

So what about when the storytelling of prose wriggles its way into a poem? We have three possibilities:

epic poetry (Hello, John Milton and the Beowulf poet)
prose poetry (Hello, Walt Whitman, father of the long line)
poems as a series (Hello, Shakespeare's sonnets to the Dark Lady)

Writing poems in a series is a fascinating opportunity for a writer. A poet can create windows of perception--poems one by one--and then link them.

Modern technology gives us the "slideshow" effect as an example. Each photo is its own reality, yet together the images conjure a greater effect. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

The same is true with a series of poems. They can be crafted, each with its own beauty, yet can also be compiled and organized to tell a story. Like flash fiction, poems can be short, impressionistic vignettes that "hint" at a larger story.

If novels are like the cinema, a series of moving pictures, then modern lyric poetry is the individual photograph, each viewed one by one. What is the functional difference of experiencing these two modes of storytelling?

In a movie, the audience is stationary and experiences images as they move. This is true also in a novel; the action occurs on the page to the characters. When a sequence of poems tells a story, the poems are like still images mounted on a wall. It is the viewer or reader that moves from reality to reality--transformed by words that are "possessed of more than usual organic sensibility," to quote William Wordsworth.

My book of poetry, Bare Ruined Choirs, consists of twenty-eight poems that document the life of a relationship. Six years after the last, fading years of my first wife's life, I realized I had the makings of a story, a chronicle with a beginning, middle, and end.

The organization of the poems, though, is conceptual, rather than chronological to the order of their writing. The artistic, universal story supercedes the biographical--or perhaps the two blend together to the universal story of "love, life, and death."

If passages in novels can be poetic prose, then certainly a series of poems can be designed to tell a story. That's what I tried to do with Bare Ruined Choirs, anyway--to tell a universal story and to structure a tribute to a brave and tragic lady.

***

Thank you, Tom: this gives those wishing to venture into poetry once more a springboard. Stories are what writers love to tell, and shaping them as you have, into a book of poems that together form a narrative, yet stand individually rather well, might be the way.

Find out more about my guest here:

Tom Kepler

Tom Kepler Writing Tom Kepler Writinghttp://www.tomkeplerswritingblog.com/(Blog and Website)
Tom Kepler Writing/Wise Moon Books (Facebook Writing Page)
Tom Kepler at Smashwords

Authors and depression

2011-09-09T13:04:00.002+08:00

Self-doubt and unreliable income can wreak damage to susceptible artistic people. Authors and other artists are vulnerable, are exposed to rejection, and rely on a certain level of intellectual success to validate their occupation. Not that this is not true for any other job, but writing seems to be burdened with the public perception that it must succeed: it must include a degree of noteworthiness, if not outright fame and fortune. When expectations are dashed, or achieved only slowly and painfully, it is not only the authors themselves who question the validity of what they do, but those nearest and most intimate with them. Perhaps that is why male authors, who do not always manage to make enough to sustain a family, are traditionally more affected.

Anne Sexton

Anyone who has ever studied literature or read a biography will not be surprised to learn that authors sometimes suffer from the blues. As a group, those who identify themselves as authors, or make the bulk of their income that way, have more than their fair share of members who suffer from mental illness. Even off the cuff, one can mention famous authors such as Virginia Woolf or Anne Sexton, Ernest Hemingway or F. Scott Fitzgerald as some who were notorious for their moods.

Benedicte Page, in her Guardian article last year, wrote that writing was one of the top ten professions 'in which people are most likely to suffer from depression'. She also observed that male authors with the complaint outnumbered female ones. Reasons stated were the isolation, self-examination, introversion and subjecting one's work to scrutiny. Anyone who has ever written anything creative can relate to these aspects.

Artistic people are plagued by an intense inner life that needs an outlet, but they are also artistic because their make-up consists of a fascinating mix of facets, often accompanied by other problems such as gender orientation confusion, family dysfunction, substance abuse and inertia. Experiences, ideas and stories that run deep into a person's psyche are all magnified when it comes to one who writes, because rather than strive to subdue them, ignore them or pretend they do not exist, authors need to dredge, dig and remember. They need to rouse and elicit all that lies in their heads and hearts just to be able to frame what they write on some basis. Even if they write pure fiction, the personal element is never absent.

Gwyneth Lewis

There is a side to writing, however, that comes to the aid of authors. Given the difficulty of what they do, the meagre earnings for those but the most famous, the discomfort that comes from being misunderstood, and their continual lack of guaranteed success, the poet Gwyneth Lewis writes she is amazed "that writers don't suffer more." Many would agree that the notion that an artist or author needs to suffer for their art is nonsense. There is a cathartic side to writing that does heal. There is a definite closure to be felt when one finishes a work that feels productive. Joy is possible, and is available to authors in ways often denied to those without an artistic outlet. The ability to transcend problems, place them in perspective - even get rid of them by giving them to an invented character - lies within the scope of the author. Many writers have analytical perception, and the mental agility, to overcome feelings of depression. Goethe, when he wrote The sorrows of young Werther, exorcised his own suicidal impulses and thoughts, and very likely saved his own life. (Pöldinger W. 1986) It has been suggested that in their depressive state, authors gather new impressions, which are then released in a fresh and vigorous writing stage, when creativity is unleased, in a kind of 'manic' state.

Perhaps it is useful to regard moods as necessary in the life of a writer: a series of hills and troughs, with their attendant feelings of alternating doubt and determination, melancholia and joy, despair and elation. If one sees there is gathering and collecting of material - of emotion - during the low moods, and great production and creation during the jolly fruitful intervals, one can face anything. Most importantly, one can face that keyboard with courage.

Meeting the Twisted Sisters

2011-09-04T23:04:00.002+08:00

Friday night was eventful. It was rainy and grey in Perth: not exactly the night to seek an address in an unfamiliar part of town. So I gave myself an extra half-hour of driving time to be on the safe side, and set off with map and explicit directions, written in red marker. I still got horribly lost, ending up at Midland first, and then at the international airport. My destination was nowhere near either.

Image via Wikipedia

PERTH

I was heading for a home where the Twisted Sisters - a keen and knowledgable book club - meet. Arriving half an hour late after phoning for directions could have been embarrassing, but the hostess and all the other members of the club made sure I walked into a room of strangers... to a warm welcome. The rest was pretty close to perfect. The night passed quickly, as we discussed According to Luke, which they had all read, and topics included in the narrative. Let me assure you there is nothing quite like talking to readers who all know my book backwards. Some made notes. Others had sticky bookmarks attached to passages they liked! All were on first-name terms with the characters.

How does an author reward such a crowd of new-found fans? Well - it's not easy, but I found that the personal touch is always valued. I gave them snippets of knowledge that only talking to the author of a novel could give them: secrets. I told them how the story originated. That some of the props exist and where they are. And I gave them insights they could only access through me. Oh no - I am not about to put any of that information here. It is only for readers I meet in person.

Let's face it - authors do tend to love a captive audience: seven attentive women whose eyes lit up at every second sentence did make me don my racconteuse hat. I told them stories connected to the creation of According to Luke, and also some about Camera Obscura, my next novel, coming soon from BeWrite Books. They seemed eager to read it, and showed a lot of interest in my other titles.

Pic: NC State University

Sometimes, an evening is simply a roaring success, even if it does start with a hiccup in the pouring rain. Sometimes, I come away from an event smiling, and warmed by genuine enthusiasm for writing, which goodness knows I find does not always come easily. All the work of drafting, editing, revisions, proofing, and promoting seems suddenly all worthwhile.

I am grateful to bookclubs who take on my fiction: after all, I am not famous or newsworthy, but they take the risk and seem to be glad they did. They clamour with questions - most of them rather clever and insightful. They ask for more - which is what any author would want to hear. They pass the word on to others, which is the strongest form of publicity that exists.

Thank you, Twisted Sisters, for a very enjoyable night.

How to be a special reader

2011-08-29T14:25:00.001+08:00

We have all heard how publishing is changing, and how fast the shifts are taking place. We have also heard how this is affecting publishing - how the big publishing houses are trying to catch up with the technology, trying to understand it as well as the smaller publishers do. We've heard of the decline of the bricks and mortar bookshop... and how people are buying everything - including paperbacks - online.

What does all this mean to the humble reader? All I want is good books, the humble reader cries. Yes - a reader reads, but that simple reading means a lot of things to a great number of people. Reading provides jobs and makes money for a very long chain of interested parties. Humble readers and their purchases, habits, likes and dislikes support a whole industry.

Image via WikipediaThe industry is currently experiencing a momentous upheaval. It will in turn affect the humble reader, in what that reader can obtain to read, the form in which it can be read, and its cost. How - as a reader - can one ensure that there will always be good, affordable reading material to read? How can you and I be special readers?

A special reader knows there are key roles in the publishing game that need to survive in order for books to stay available as a source for education, information, and entertainment. Special readers know that the whole industry is there because of them. All of it. No readers, no book industry. No publishing.

The most important roles in the industry are the indispensible ones. One needs authors, and one needs publishers. One needs producers of physical and digital books. One needs a place to buy the books. Sometimes, these roles overlap - some authors write, publish, produce and sell their own books. Some use producers and retailers. Some use publishers and sell some of their titles themselves. It's a melange that has many possibilities.

Image via WikipediaA reader is a reader - and yes, many writers also read. How can a humble reader become a special one? Here are the things you can do to make sure you support the industry in the best ways you can. The book industry needs sustaining. It runs on what readers do. If you are a reader, you need to DO things to make sure it lives on to bring you more books.

ONE: Buy books. It seems obvious, but borrowing, stealing and finding books does not support either the industry or the authors you like so much. Stealing books is especially nefarious: books are getting cheaper (If you haven't noticed it yet, you will soon.) Buying inexpensive eBooks is great. Downloading them from pirates is not - it will eventually destroy your authors, so pay the three bucks!

TWO: Discover as much as you can about your favourite authors. Not only the titles of their books, but where they work, what else they write, how they come by their ideas, whether they are on FaceBook or GoodReads or your favourite hang-out. Do they write in another genre? Have they published short stories? Do they give out any free reading examples? Free reading examples supplied by authors and publishers are different from stealing an illegal copy of a book.

THREE: Let your favourite authors know you love them. Most are approachable, nice, contactable... they love their fans back. Write a review, send a message, like them on FaceBook, reTweet their Tweets. Follow them, wherever they hang out.

FOUR: Special readers spread the word. Authors know that word of mouth is the greatest seller of books. So talk about your favourite authors at parties, at the supermarket checkout, on the phone, in your posts and comments. Mention their names, tweet their links. Message the titles of their books. In this way, more people will know about your authors, more people will buy their books, and they will be more likely to still be around when you next want something good to read.

Being a special reader makes the authors you love special. They will survive to go on and write more books. Do you know what it takes to write a book? Think about it - it is much harder than you think. For your authors to keep writing those fabulous books they need support from special readers like you.

If you are an author, tell me what you'd like your readers to do. If you are a reader, what have you done lately to show your favourite authors you like what they do?

How to be a Special Writer

2011-08-20T15:02:00.001+08:00

There are 68,200 bloggers who identify themselves as writers or authors on Blogger alone. Think about it: it's a spectacular number. It's especially spectacular if you are an author who blogs using Blogger. I am one. There are 68,199 others.

Image via CrunchBaseHow on earth am I going to stand out, and bring my work to the notice of readers? The thought does occur: are there more than 68,200 readers out there ready to purchase and read my novels and short stories?

How on earth can any writer seem special, or worthy of note among this competition? There must be a number of ways.

One can have outstanding book covers. A good book cover sells itself. There is much written about colour, size, typography, illustration, layout and meaning of book covers. Reading up on that aspect is important, and should be a major consideration on the part of anyone producing a book: author or publisher.

One can devise a brilliant marketing plan. Raising awareness of one's book is a major task, which is time-consuming, sometimes baffling, and always exhausting. Before marketing, of course, a writer ought to identify the market. Isolating the people most likely to want to buy and read a book is not an easy task, but it is possible, and should be undertaken early - perhaps even before the book reaches the final production stages.

independentaustralia.net

An author can write strictly within a genre, and write for a particular ready-made audience. There are some very popular genres: romance, mystery, sci-fi, fantasy, urban myth, historical, and post-apocalyptic spring to mind. They are everywhere, and seem to assure the author there is a bottomless pit of readers seeking new material to feast upon.

The writing must be good. No question about this - it's got to be invisible: conveying the content - whether it is fact or fiction - in a seamless error-free way. It ought to pack punch, show style, experience, knowledge. It ought to shine in form and content. Not easy at all, but some authors manage. There is a wealth of excellent writing out there, and many readers have found it. Whether we can continue to improve and achieve is a question of effort, striving for improvement and putting in the hard miles.

And then there is the question of quantity - in my mind, one of the most important factors in the life of a writer. One must keep producing material for an audience that seems to latch onto the work of a particular author, once they have liked one example of their work. 'Gee, I could not put this thriller down. I must find more by this author.' The search is on. Any writer is expected to turn out more than just one book. Being a one-book wonder is every author's fear. Publishers do not like one-book wonders, and that is the first question they ask when wooed by a new author: is there more where this came from?

Being a special writer means all this and more: but the last facet is the most important. It is much easier to market nine books than it is to publicize and promote just one. The books of any one author seem to sell each other. A reader browsing for material clicks on the author's name more often than we tend to guess. Authors' names are important, because they are like brands - readers go back for more of the same if they like what they read.

Write more: that seems to be the ticket. If you want to be a special writer, you need to be a prolific one. It is probably more useful to write the next book than to chase the publicity and promotion wagon. It all starts on the next page, doesn't it?

If you are a reader, please tell me if you seek books by writers whose one example you read was pleasing. If you are an author, let me know if you are seriously pursuing inspiration and material for that next title.

Priests in love: fact or fiction? Fiction or fact?

2011-08-15T11:30:00.000+08:00

Image by kmevans via FlickrSince Colleen McCullough came out with the topic in the 1970s, with The Thornbirds, people have wondered about Catholic priests, their emotions, and whether the strength of their faith must do battle with the strength of their human drives. Priests tend to crop up in fiction from time to time, which raises the old question of the value or necessity of celibacy in the priesthood: a debate that will not go away until it goes away.

Fiction about priests is not rare: one can easily make a list of books that cover the topic. From Father Brown to Father Crompton to Sylvia Plath's Father Shawn, they have been knitted into fiction for centuries. Although it has not evolved into a genre of its own, fiction about priests has joined hands with other genres to constitute a nice reading portfolio for those to whom the topic seems entertaining, culturally interesting, or intriguing because of its quirky nature. But fiction about priests in love is not that common. Colleen McCollough started something, but too few novelists have taken on the tricky subject.

Den Adler, in his To Become a Priest - A Love Story tackles the opposing forces that battle inside the male adolescent mind and body. Intense friendship is tackled in the book The Company of Women by Mary Gordon. From what I hear of it, Jan Karon's A Light in the Window is a rather light and subtle touch. The All of It, by Jeannette Halen probably touches upon all the long-held morals and tenets of priests in a close community and how they are perceived by women.

For those with curiosity about priests in general, this is a nice list to start from. The point is of course to include my own According to Luke, whose story includes a very important romance woven into the entire plot.

In this novel, I place a handsome Australian priest in a situation whose thrilling aspects are external to his priestly vows, but which at some point in the story become so enmeshed with the whole plot that one seems impossible to solve without the other. It is not unlike The Thorn Birds in the sense that higher authority in the Church intervenes with clout. The power to affect people and change their lives comes into play, and is - in this novel at least - shown to be linked to other unresolved issues in a man's life.

It would be very interesting to hear the opinions of readers - both Catholic and not - of this kind of novel. Is there room for more: are there too few or too many novels that treat this aspect of the way love enters and affects the life of a man ... all men? How realistically are the problems treated by this kind of novel? Leave a comment with your thoughts.

Gender genres? Thrillers for women!

2011-08-09T20:51:00.000+08:00

Image via WikipediaSay the word thriller, and immediately people think of car chases, conspiracies, fancy hardware such as guns, and lots of money. High stakes, high jinx, high everything. Tension, excitement and thrills, however, are not limited to ransoms, heists and revenge. Thrillers attract an audience (largely, but not exclusively, male) that demands cliff-hangers, fringe theories and paranoia.

The thriller genre has spawned some very familiar household names in fiction: Michael Crichton, John Grisham, Clive Cussler and Scott Turow need no introduction. They spin out worthy volumes that merit the popularity they glean for their authors and the genre in general. The audience they write for is mainly male, adventure-loving and hooked on malevolence and action.

What about the girls, and those who are a bit less blood-thirsty and wild thrill-seeking? There must be a sub-genre to suit them. An intellectual thriller, more tuned to the thoughtful and considered reader: the reader who demands more in the way of character-depth, well-researched background and locations, and a premise that requires concentration, analytical skills, critical thinking, and focus from the reader. And perhaps a bit of background knowledge, culture even.

The kind of thriller a female reader might enjoy would involve deeper emotional engagement on the part of the protagonist, a premise that needs more than one sentence to describe it, and a background that might be historic, philosophical or psychological in nature. How about a couple of female characters?

Sub-genres to the thriller have recently sprung up that cater to an audience with broader tastes. There are religious thrillers, that deal with alternative biblical interpretations. There are psychological thrillers, that play with the labyrinthine twists and turns of the mind. There are also political thrillers that delve into the nefarious schemes and plots that shake governments to their foundations.

From deviantart

Then there are romantic thrillers. Ah! These are novels in which the characters are more than simply sketched or lightly drawn: they become real to the reader, because who they are determines how the story goes, how hard the action is driven and in which direction the ending leads. Romantic thrillers are novels that entertain not only with their deftly twisted plots and stories, their action and their intrepid protagonists: they also engage the emotion, and demand the reader to pay attention to more than what is just seen and physically endured. They demand examination of the emotion, engagement with feelings and sensitivities.

These are thrillers that female readers might enjoy. Not all women relish comfortable romances where the ending - although not always predictable - can be guaranteed to tie everything up favourably for the protagonist, usually female. Not all female readers require stories that are only engagements of the heart. Romantic thrillers provide enough excitement, thrills and action to deliver an exhilarating read without ignoring the attraction between men and women, the possibilities and risks of a relationship that accompanies a mystery, and how sexual tension can liven up and complicate a plot.

Look out for Tara Moss, Roxanne St Clair, Linda Howard, or Jamie Freveletti if you seek thrillers with a bit of heart.

Now I might have raised questions here about readers, genders, genres and whether authors write for a specific audience of males or females! If you have an opinion about any of these questions, by all means leave a comment.

My guest this month - Linton Robinson

2011-08-01T14:28:00.002+08:00

This is a rare occasion, so sit up.

Linton Robinson's name is well-known enough for him to be able to pick and choose where he appears. I am very glad he agreed to this interview. I hesitate when choosing a word to describe this denizen of the world's most important online meeting places. He has experience and know-how, and some very direct ways of sharing them. Linton does not suffer fools easily, so his reputation precedes him. I have asked him special questions: none of the commonplace routine questionnaires for this guy.

Please make Lin Robinson welcome...

Lin, we keep meeting on threads, blogs, writers’ sites and forums. How do you think authors benefit from commenting on various online meeting places – is it time well spent?

In my case frequently mis-spent I'm afraid. I probably piss off more people than I sell and spend hours fooling around. Of course, it keeps me off the street. What's cool is that the opportunity is available. If there had been a way I could show my writing to professionals when I was in high school, maybe get some comments, I'd have fallen over in shock. Now it's taken for granted. (And the little mutts get sassy about it.) If you're having fun and communicating with people you like to, how better to spend time?

I’ve read a few wonderful chapters in Mayan Calendar Girls – tell us a bit about the concept, and how the idea came to you.

Wow, twisty question for this book, and actually in dispute. Not legally, thank God. The whole thing started in Cancún, at what was either a writing conference where nobody went home when they were supposed to, or a short-term, time-shared writers' colony. It's pretty much established that somebody at a party, where everybody was just messed-up enough, said you couldn't take the Mayan Calendar thing seriously because they didn't have calendar girls. I'm pretty sure it wasn't me, but at least three members of what came to be known as "Team 2012" are rabidly sure it was them, leading to hard feelings and a couple of food fights. The concept is all in the title: "Mayan Calendar Girls" says it all.

The real concepts of interest there are "team written"-- itself a long story full of recruitment, desertion, frantic groups shouting at somebody trying to bang out an episode we promised three days before and were getting flack for not having up, and people sneaking in and rewriting posted episodes -- and "weekly webserial" -- over one hundred chapters posted once a week and delivered to our growing number of fans online or by RSS feed, even cell phones. Both are uncommon means of writing a novel, but both have some powerful advantages.

Your works are a fascinating colourful mixture of the exotic, the sensual, the gritty and the eccentric. Are you influenced at all by the visual arts?

Wow, thank you. I was just trying for "completed". I'm a very visual guy and am often impressed and inspired by visual input. I don't really make any distinction between some masterful painting, a beautiful landscape, a nineteen year old girl's butt on a website, or seeing a car run over somebody: it all adds up. I often compile little portfolios of my characters, so I know what they look like: in fact sometimes the character becomes who he or she is because I saw "their" picture on the internet. That said, I don' t like writing description and am not very good at it. Why I like doing screenplays.

A really good example of how this can work was, again, at Mayan Calendar Girls. Once the title had been uttered and everybody got wiped out enough to think that writing the book was a good idea, we were astonished by how much Mayan calendar cheesecake was out there. Take a look at the website. The cover, by Robin Crandall, came up at some point and was very inspirational. We'd been working on something kind of book like Wilson's Illuminatus -- lots of intellectual stuff, archaeological tidbits. But that image caused us to swing towards "cheesecake rules". You look at that picture; ancient stone calendar with that innocent, playful, tawdry chorus girl shot, and that's a lot of what the book is all about. Girls of many cultures and skin tones: being cute, dashing around on adventures, losing their clothing a lot. There are still serious elements, straight-out romance, Perils of Pauline, and political humor that's probably already dated (a danger for serials, by the way) but that isn't just a cover slapped on the book, it was part of what made the book whatever the hell it is. The idea of writing a novel to "illustrate" a painting might be a little far-fetched, but I think it's legitimate.

What do you think drove the success of your Mexican Slang book? If you were starting it right now, would you do anything different?

Mexican Slang 101 has sold tens of thousands of copies and I think the reasons are pretty simple. It's a book a lot of people want, but don't know it yet. Another "title equals concept" thing: you see the title and you know you want it immediately. Or not. Jessica Kreager's cover helps, but it sold well with no art at all, just grungy title type. I used to try to make it look like something you'd buy out of a street hustler's opened trenchcoat. It's also cheap. It sells for the same "Five Gringo Dollars" now as it did in 1985. Despite, let me whine, the fact that production cost has doubled.

Also, it's pocket-sized. Doing pocket-sized books is a pain in the heinie. And none of the POD producers have quarter page sized formats. But for a book like this, it’s worth it. This is a great format for poetry, by the way--and the size makes it twice as thick.

If I was doing it different, I'd have gotten on the internet sooner (my first online sales were eBay, by the way -- which led me PayPal) and done it less beachbum outlaw. I was just selling it where I happened to be. The reason it has some sample trashtalk on the back with page numbers is so little Mexican kids could go up to gringo tourists, flash them the title, then show them the back page. They'd start laughing, showing it to their friends, looking inside -- and they were hooked. I think using back cover references to draw people into the book are a good, and little-used, idea. I was way ahead of Amazon's "Look Inside" gizmo. Way ahead of POD, too: I made 99.9% of those books on copy machines, sometimes doing only like six, dashing out to the beach to sell them and get enough money to print more and pay my hotel room. I used to sell them in beach restaurants to pay for dinner. Once I had them at the counter of a backpacker hotel, where they sold well enough to pay my rent -- subsistence with no cash changing hands. I'm trying to be a little more corporate than that these days.

Did I mention it's cheap? Maybe I should do an ebook for $0.99.

We all say that where a writer lives doesn’t matter these days, because of the internet and rapid communication. You live in Mexico – surely your location has affected the way you write, or what you write about?

In a lot of ways "where" doesn't matter much to me. I was born in Occupied Japan--not even a country -- and went to twelve schools before I started getting kicked out of colleges and armies. But it has a major effect on what I'm writing. Don't people generally write about their environment? I was laying out novels in Seattle, wrote "The Weekend Warrior" in San Diego (and if you think Mayan Calendar Girls is racy, wait until you catch THAT little bit of zaniness and surrealistic spinouts) and several books at the border, as well as the TV series that will spawn a trilogy of novels starting this fall. Mayan Calendar Girls would have been pointless to write outside the Yucatán.

I move around a lot and have lived less than half my life in the USA. I find US culture weird when I visit there, frankly. And the politics are boring compared to other countries I've written in. On the other hand, they don't try to kill you for political writing in the US, and that's exactly what happened in Mazatlán. I'm hoping this Tijuana bigshot doesn't have me shot over that Borderlines series: he's been known to do it to other writers.

This could be a disadvantage, actually. Writers who have roots and a sense of place have a niche they can work with, and hopefully can develop core readerships based on their region or city. Or... Somebody writes about life on a starship or other dimension or ancient Rome and it just doesn't matter at all.

You have been around the traps a few times – how have your writing and publishing experiences informed the way you treat the business now, in 2011?

I just wish this whole paradigm had come along when I was younger. I'm a solo type guy and actually kind of despise the people in Manhattan who make the decisions on what people get to read. I was publishing my own underground papers in the sixties and seventies, my own lines of poetry in the eighties, Mexican Slang101 in the nineties. I like to deal directly with the reader. Nobody ever reads my books without liking them. But nobody in the "industry" finds them interesting enough to, apparently, read past the first page. So screw them.

And we can do that now. You can sit in your apartment or trailer or cellblock or whatever and write novels, publish them, and make big bucks. Get read all over the world, not just in stores. The very potential to be able to do that is earth-shaking. It completely eclipses Gutenberg: it’s a revolution that writers are feeling sooner than readers, but it’s all coming. Young writers are so lucky to have the opportunities available to them and should take full advantage of them. Don't be swayed by any of the "real book fetishist" or "gatekeeper bait" niggling about this. It's the most powerful thing that's happened to the written word in history, and the greatest thing for writers of all levels, period.

I see you have collaborated with writers and artists a number of times. How easy – or hard – have you found it to come up with a successful joint effort?

Well, I think I've said enough about the Mayan Girls Team to scare people, but another example is my "Imaginary Lines" with Ana Maria Corona. It's always tickled me that people keep asking me "So who wrote what?" I think it's pretty obvious that many of those pieces stem from stories of her Guadalajara girlhood, and some of the work stems from my own cynical investigations: but the thing is, collaborations are a blend and exchange. Would it make sense for me to ask who was responsible for your last orgasm?

I think teamwork is going to play a LOT more of a role in my future work. Team 2012 has another serial in the works if we can stop bickering and seducing each other -- and sooner or later we have to spring for the sequel -- which ties up the plot and the history of everything in general. If I have huge hits with three books I'm preparing for print right now, on small presses, I don't know where I'd find the time to write the second book in each series. I find myself getting more and better ideas lately, but less time and energy to complete them. (This may be a general condition in men of my age, actually, but I'm talking about literature.) I'm actively looking for young writers to team up with on projects. People like Santana bringing out albums where they play with younger musicians got me thinking about that. I have one long-term "dream series" that I would want to approach with a team of writers and researchers to do like ten novels spanning two decades. I would REALLY like to do it, but have no interest in writing it myself.

A lot of things are changing, and I can see value in it. There's no reason the author of a book has to be some auteur, any more than with films. There's no reason for novels to be 100,000 words long: there is an epublisher called "40K Books" and I just converted a screenplay to a novel (in seven three-hour days) that runs 43,000 and will make a very nice ebook. It will come out on a new publisher that specializes in screenplay novelizations. I have no idea where things will be in a year, but the toothpaste is not going back in the tube and it's just going to get cheaper and easier for writers to reach readers. I've said for years that in the future everybody will be an author, and nobody will make a living at it. An exaggeration, but what if it turns out that way? There's no problem with that: what's a problem is writing sitting around in a drawer, unread.

Thank you for spending time with us, Lin.

Linton Robinson has been a professional writer for far too many years, in genres and formats that often make no sense whatsoever. A lifelong self-publisher, he just thinks all these newbies are crowding the field and cramping his style. After decades working with magazines, newspapers, catalogs, and whatnot, he exuberates to the new models in which he doesn't have to get along with anybody.
Most recently he was a member of the team that wrote Mayan Calendar Girls http://mayancalendargirls.com
See more, including videos, pictures, and meandering, at http://linrobinson.com

How to use a bookshop

2011-07-29T15:04:00.001+08:00

You'll be forgiven for thinking this is a no-brainer. How can one not know how to use a bookstore? You go in, see a book you like, and buy it, right? Right?

Ah, um, er... not really. Everything about the books industry has changed, and I don't just mean the introduction of ebooks and the advent of hand-held reading devices, either. The book selling industry has been evolving rapidly for some time, and learning how to use a book store is vital for a number of reasons.

Image via WikipediaThe first is because you like them - you love bookshops. The whole world is debating whether they will survive and everybody cries when one (or one chain) closes its doors. There are other reasons: bookstores make malls varied, make gift-buying for the person who has everything easier, and gently persuade, with smells, colours and textures. They attract youngsters to reading. They fulfil cultural, social, educational and economic roles. I am sure you can think of a dozen more reasons for having bookstores.

But learning how to use them in the new book-buying climate is essential. It's not as simple as enter, browse, buy. Oh no.

Buying books is personal, subjective, and can be expensive. Browsing, impulse buying, and whimsical purchases are all right for the very wealthy, or those with infinite space to store on either real or virtual shelves. But mistakes can be frustrating and costly. Learn how to purchase wisely. First, learn what kind of a reader you are, and also the reading likes and dislikes of those you know and love. Learn how to list what you have read so far. Also list your favourite authors and those you will not willingly read again. Look for "If you liked this, you will like that" lists on the web and at your library.

Examining your reading habits will make you a better user of bookshops, but that is not the most important thing to know about them. Here it is: it is physically impossible for bookshops to carry all the books available in print. Chances are they will not have what you are after. That author you spotted on a blog, that great book everyone at work was talking about, that title you overhead on the street, that paragraph you read over someone's shoulder on the train, from a book whose title now escapes you ... No - they won't be able to guess at the bookstore. No, it won't necessarily be on a bookshop shelf. Amazon.com has about seven million books on its shelves - can you imagine the size of shop needed to take that many books - even just one of each?

http://pmumau.wordpress.com/2010/01/

So how are you going to find the books YOU want to read rather than what the store manager has selected for you from the millions available? How will you find that elusive novel people are buying in some other country, but not where you currently live, shop and work?

You can do it by learning how to put a bookshop to better use, and ensure its survival. Do your homework. Make some intelligent searches online, find those valuable hints. Make a list of overheard titles, books found on newspaper reviews, authors whose names elude you. Then march down to your favourite bookshop and MAKE AN ORDER.

That is what bookshops are really for: taking your orders and finding the books you want on their catalogues, which are enormous, but searchable. They access huge databases looking for the titles you seek, when you bang your fist on their counters! Bookshops are merely a portal to your reading material: all you see is the entrance. The contents are too big to keep in one shop or one location, so you need to ask for what you want. Place an order for any book on the Books in Print catalogue. If it's there, they should be able to get it for you.

Learn how to make your search for books a concerted effort between searching online, storing books on your eReader, downloading, keeping a good TBRL*, and ordering paper books. The result will be a rewarding variety of reading modes, materials you have actively chosen, and very fruitful book-buying experiences.

Leave me a comment on your book shop experiences: are you often disappointed in your search for a specific book? Have you examined how you shop? Are you willing to tweak your buying habits to help ensure the survival of bookshops?

*To Be Read List

Simon says

2011-07-27T12:54:00.000+08:00

From Marray Services

Writers need to do a lot of strange things to draw attention to themselves and their work. One of these favourite activities is to write blogs and comments on Being a Writer, or The Writer's World, or The Life of the Writer.

Writers read the blogs of other writers, looking for advice on how to write, how to live the writer's life, and how to sell more books. Or perhaps How to Write a Better Novel. I have read so much guidance from other novelists I sometimes wonder which way is up. A lot of it is conflicting, and some of it makes little practical sense.

I find advice on branding, plotting, selling, promoting, characterization, drafting, genres, editing and a whole lot more. There is advice to be had on every single aspect of writing and being an author. Often, it is written and offered by people who have done little writing, except in the way of advice. Some have written so much help, advice, information and guidance it's not immediately obvious that it's all they have written. Doesn't one have to have written one novel - at least - to be able to guide another prospective author through the traps?

Doesn't one need the experience of dealing with an agent or publisher before jumping into the fray and telling others how to do it? Apparently, it's 'no experience required' when it comes to this kind of advice-mongering. Hop on any discussion group, thread or forum about writing, and you will find 'advice' of all kinds, some forthcoming from individuals whose credentials to offer it are often minimal or non-existent.

It is not unusual to find whole companies popping up offering to 'help ' a new writer through the process, when they have not published as much as a short story themselves. Perhaps this realisation might prompt new writers to be very wary about the sources of advice, and look upon it as a Simon Says exercise. Find out what the writer offering counsel or assistance has actually done. Make it your business to discover what that writer's real experience has been. Do what a writer does, if you like the outcome, not merely what they say you should do.

Finding out what experiences a writer has been through is sometimes only evident from what they have published. This is not a bad indicator at all. An author with a string of titles out, with a good history of sales, probably has the benefit and weight of consequence behind their information and guidance. Someone whose only testimonial is more dubious advice must be treated with the same suspicion as a door-to-door salesman peddling a product with no reputation.

When an author has the weight of experience and the output to prove it, it's usually visible, and easy to find. Either their own website, or a quick visit to your favourite online bookstore, will confirm backing for that guidance. Even a rapid search will disclose whether the advice is worth following.

It is extremely easy to read up and regurgitate so-called information and advice - let's not be taken in by the ones who have honed this to a fine art: giving advice to follow a career path, a plan of action or a series of steps they have never taken themselves.

What do you think of information and guidance for writers you have found on the web or elsewhere? Was it backed by real experience?

4 reasons to try another genre

2011-07-22T15:01:00.001+08:00

Readers - and authors - generally find a genre that fascinates them, and stick to it. At least for a while. You get mystery buffs, romance lovers, history gurus, and biography buyers. There are also thriller nuts, and fantasy fiction freaks.

Today I suggest readers - and authors! - live dangerously and try another genre. Here are the reasons

One: Taking on a romance rather than a thriller for your next read might sound a little risky. There will be no car chases, extortion, blood or guts. You might find, as a reader, that there is a facet to this different genre you did not suspect existed. The characters are sketched differently. The background, perhaps, is given a different kind of slant. Authors might find themselves engrossed with the emotional life of their characters, and the importance of nuance.

Image via WikipediaTwo: Another genre might make you seem more interesting to the family, or the crowd you hang with. If they peep over your shoulder at the content of your Kindle, or see a different kind of paperback sticking out of your handbag, you might suddenly seem to have another string to your bow. Interesting - you might find your friends look at you in a different way all of a sudden. Unpredictability makes people fascinating. 'I never knew you were interested in politics.' A conversation is struck up, and you have a new friend, with a new interest.

Three: Genre jumping as an author might give you a whole new market to exploit. As a science fiction writer, the niche of cosy mysteries is a closed box and itself a conundrum... why not give it a whirl? The following you gather might be tempted to jump genre themselves, and try your sci-fi titles. Iain Banks has done it, and so has Tess Gerritsen. It takes nerve, and a willing agent or publisher, but there too the trend is now favourable, and stranger things have happened.

Four: A change is as good as a rest. Or a holiday! Writing a light detective novel might not seem like as much hard toil as that deeply researched genealogical narrative non-fiction. A travelogue might seem a doddle compared to that psychological thriller, if you are a reader on holiday or simply after a change.

Are you a reader willing to try another genre - if so, from which to what? If you are an author seriously considering this risky genre-jumping caper, tell us about it.