Yes, I am up in the middle of the night to write and edit again. Nothing new there. It's just that the subject matter of my writing and editing has changed. I must explain.
I served as editorial director of woodypaige.com since The Denver Post columnist and ESPN personality launched the website in the fall. Well, the title "editorial director" is a bit misleading. That implies I could actually edit copy that went onto the site. Maybe wire editor is a better title. I also said "was" because Woody decided to pull the plug on the .com venture on May 1 because we couldn't get a national advertiser to help pay the bills.
But for all those months, we gave it a heckuva try. Our biggest problem: We just didn't have the right business model. We posted links to 28 to 30 sports-related stories every day. It was designed to entertain that valuable 18-to-34 age demographic, but we never entertained enough of them. That led to lower numbers than advertisers wanted to see, which led to the lack of an advertising contract, which led to our demise.
I am sorry to see the website go. I learned so much about getting a new venture off the ground, and about adaptability as plans changed, and getting to know the complex world of advertising options on today's Internet. Do I begrudge my time with woodypaige.com? Far from it. I got to work more closely with Woody, who is a heckuva good guy. That blustery guy you see on "Around the Horn"? That's more act than reality. I also learned so much about creating a website, devising plans, executing those plans, encountering problems and trying to find ways around those problems. All of us associated with the website worked hard to make it work. It just didn't pan out.
Live and learn. Take your lumps and recover. Look to the future, and get back to AIC every day. Those are all good things.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Thank you, James Scott Bell
They say a reading of Ten Commandments can change a guy's life. I am sure that is true. But there are Ten Commandments, and then there are the Ten Commandments for an author. Those "tablets of stone" for writers came recently from James Scott Bell, one of the better writing coaches in the business. Bell's Commandments have forced me to take a long look and a wrecking ball to my second novel.
I won't detail which commandments had such a great impact on me, but Bell taught me two lessons in the plainest language yet: refine character, complicate plot. I took those lessons and took a hard look at what I had written. There was only one conclusion to make: I had work to do.
So, at 3:42 a.m. Saturday morning, with the music of Bach playing in my headphones, I reentered my novel. I had Bell's commandments playing in the back of my mind as well.
This won't be a short exercise. I am taking entire sections I wrote and refining them. I am tossing out sections of plot and substituting new ones. I am looking at details of character, especially for my protagonist. I am built him well; now I need to build him better.
So, thank you, Mr. Bell. I hope my finished work adequately fulfills your commandments.
I won't detail which commandments had such a great impact on me, but Bell taught me two lessons in the plainest language yet: refine character, complicate plot. I took those lessons and took a hard look at what I had written. There was only one conclusion to make: I had work to do.
So, at 3:42 a.m. Saturday morning, with the music of Bach playing in my headphones, I reentered my novel. I had Bell's commandments playing in the back of my mind as well.
This won't be a short exercise. I am taking entire sections I wrote and refining them. I am tossing out sections of plot and substituting new ones. I am looking at details of character, especially for my protagonist. I am built him well; now I need to build him better.
So, thank you, Mr. Bell. I hope my finished work adequately fulfills your commandments.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
The great "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn
I finished reading "Gone Girl" this week, and I must say I am better for the experience. Author Gillian Flynn takes readers on a thrill ride, only in a different way than in the standard mystery/thriller/suspense bill of fare. Her style concentrates on two people, Nick Dunne and Amy Elliott Dunne, and she details the smallest inner workings of their lives.
Oh, yeah, there is the detail about Amy going missing, you know, the whole "Gone Girl" thing.
Flynn takes considerable time to introduce the characters. Make that CONSIDERABLE time. She takes almost 100 pages to set up the timeline of the relationship between these people. That could be tiring trudging for many readers, but Flynn lets us have an enjoyable ride. Her unveiling of these people is done with humor and intricate skill. You read through the thrill of Nick and Amy first meeting, into infatuation, love, questions and ever-widening cracks in their marriage.
Then Amy goes missing, and the crime plot begins to play out. Now, I am not one to give away secrets about plot. (I think one of the lowest levels of humanity is the person who sits in a movie theater and stage-whispers, "Hey, listen to people scream when the guy jumps out of the closet with the chainsaw. It's coming in 3 ... 2 ...") All I will say is that Flynn builds up one magnificent story line, flips the script, and flips it again. The ending isn't close to what I expected. But that is one of the great things about this novel. There are surprises with almost every turn of the page.
I know, a lot of you are saying, "It took him this long to get on board with this novel?" Well, the title didn't grab me. I thought it was a nice chick book, one of the novels that the dominant gender in the reading world embraced. What changed my mind? I saw the list of Edgar nominees, and "Gone Girl" was there. Sold!!!!
If there is a complaint I have, it is that the novel loses some steam as it reaches its later stages. That complaint is only because the bulk of the novel is so riveting. There were many places where I stopped reading and applauded Flynn for her work. That quality slackens a bit later, but that flaw is like finding a paint chip on the Mona Lisa.
It is a marvelous read, and it is highly recommended.
Oh, yeah, there is the detail about Amy going missing, you know, the whole "Gone Girl" thing.
Flynn takes considerable time to introduce the characters. Make that CONSIDERABLE time. She takes almost 100 pages to set up the timeline of the relationship between these people. That could be tiring trudging for many readers, but Flynn lets us have an enjoyable ride. Her unveiling of these people is done with humor and intricate skill. You read through the thrill of Nick and Amy first meeting, into infatuation, love, questions and ever-widening cracks in their marriage.
Then Amy goes missing, and the crime plot begins to play out. Now, I am not one to give away secrets about plot. (I think one of the lowest levels of humanity is the person who sits in a movie theater and stage-whispers, "Hey, listen to people scream when the guy jumps out of the closet with the chainsaw. It's coming in 3 ... 2 ...") All I will say is that Flynn builds up one magnificent story line, flips the script, and flips it again. The ending isn't close to what I expected. But that is one of the great things about this novel. There are surprises with almost every turn of the page.
I know, a lot of you are saying, "It took him this long to get on board with this novel?" Well, the title didn't grab me. I thought it was a nice chick book, one of the novels that the dominant gender in the reading world embraced. What changed my mind? I saw the list of Edgar nominees, and "Gone Girl" was there. Sold!!!!
If there is a complaint I have, it is that the novel loses some steam as it reaches its later stages. That complaint is only because the bulk of the novel is so riveting. There were many places where I stopped reading and applauded Flynn for her work. That quality slackens a bit later, but that flaw is like finding a paint chip on the Mona Lisa.
It is a marvelous read, and it is highly recommended.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
I Found a Flaw
There was a mistake I left in my manuscript through numerous edits. It didn't escape one of my middle-of-the-night review sessions.
It concerns a secondary character and his recognition of my main character, Daniel Pace. Early in the book, he sees Pace's name on a list and shows no recognition. Much later, near the end of the book, he informs Pace he knew about him for years. No!!!! Inconsistency!!!!
But that's what is great about fiction. I took a few minutes to go back to that first incident and rewrite. Secondary character recognizes Pace's name at first glance. End of mistake.
I will have more blog entries later, but this is going to be a busy author's day. AIC, for sure. Fire up Pandora for classical Latin guitar and get into that creative groove. Love it.
It concerns a secondary character and his recognition of my main character, Daniel Pace. Early in the book, he sees Pace's name on a list and shows no recognition. Much later, near the end of the book, he informs Pace he knew about him for years. No!!!! Inconsistency!!!!
But that's what is great about fiction. I took a few minutes to go back to that first incident and rewrite. Secondary character recognizes Pace's name at first glance. End of mistake.
I will have more blog entries later, but this is going to be a busy author's day. AIC, for sure. Fire up Pandora for classical Latin guitar and get into that creative groove. Love it.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Lesson Ten: The Perfect Query Letter
Welcome back to The Weekend Blogger.
Let's contemplate the query letter. There is only one thing that is more important to an author trying to break into the publishing business, and that's the quality of the novel. But before the novel can have an effect, the query letter has to interest an agent enough that he/she will ask for part or all of that novel for review.
That makes the query letter a high-stakes game. In a way, it's the author pushing in all of his/her chips. The problem is that some agents get hundreds of query letters a day, all delivered into what is charmingly called the slush pile. That query of mine has to stand out among all those other queries or else it will be treated like slush in your driveway. The agent will sweep it into a pile and never think about it again. End of a chance to be published, at least with that agent as the guide for that project.
The perfect query letter has to have one trait: It has to lead to publication. All the nice verbiage in the world doesn't measure up if it doesn't lead to publication. That's a very stark assessment, but we are talking about a business here. Agents can talk about a loving for good writing, but the business requires that writing must sell. That query letter must persuade the agent, who then must have an editor at a publishing house in mind who would absolutely LOVE this project.
The advice you hear most from agents is that you must make the first part of the query read like the blurb on the back cover of a novel. I think I reached that point with my current query. If I was a guy waiting to get on an airplane, and I wanted to snag a thriller at the little bookstore on the concourse, I would pick up my novel based on this query. It gives a nice capsule of my main character, and sets up the conflict. I end that first part with a line that is more a tease than a revelation.
The second part of the query is succinct: The (insert title here, IN ALL CAPS) is a complete (insert genre here) of (insert word count here).
The third part is a brief personal biography. Tell the agent what you do in your day job, especially if that job lends credence to your writing skills. (If you do nails at Trixi's House of Bling, forget that information.) Tell the agent what separates you from the rest of the slush pile hopefuls. Tell the agent about your previous publishing history (that's a big seller), or writing contests you have won, or give a list of writing conferences you have attended. I include my participation in Pikes Peak Writers Conference events (a well-respected conference, for good reason), and that I am attending Donald Maass' week-long writing workshop later this year. I want that last part to give evidence to something at the center of my soul: I want to be a full-time published author, and I make strides to make that happen.
Here's a big tip: RESEARCH each agent to whom you are directing a query. Some have special parameters they want in a query that deviate from the standard format. Some want information on other writers with a style similar to yours. (I list John Hart and Lee Child, not to curry favor but because that is an accurate assessment.) Some want information on your ideas on how to properly market your novel. Some want the word "query" included in the title line. Others want "new submission." Learn what an agent wants, and tailor the query to best fit those needs.
See how easy that is? In order of performance, write a great novel, research each agent, write a boffo query letter, craft that query to fit that agent's needs, send off your query. Of course, there is the reality that you will only reach the slush pile, and your query will get a few seconds of time. If you strike a chord with an agent, you move closer to the Promised Land. If you don't, you join the crowded ranks of Slush Pile Rejects.
I have to be honest here. I can regard myself as a good guide on the perfect query letter only if I get published. Otherwise I am like a Catholic priest giving advice about a good marriage. I might have all the information, but I don't have the experience. Experience means knowledge, and knowledge means success. Or at least that's how I think it works.
Let's contemplate the query letter. There is only one thing that is more important to an author trying to break into the publishing business, and that's the quality of the novel. But before the novel can have an effect, the query letter has to interest an agent enough that he/she will ask for part or all of that novel for review.
That makes the query letter a high-stakes game. In a way, it's the author pushing in all of his/her chips. The problem is that some agents get hundreds of query letters a day, all delivered into what is charmingly called the slush pile. That query of mine has to stand out among all those other queries or else it will be treated like slush in your driveway. The agent will sweep it into a pile and never think about it again. End of a chance to be published, at least with that agent as the guide for that project.
The perfect query letter has to have one trait: It has to lead to publication. All the nice verbiage in the world doesn't measure up if it doesn't lead to publication. That's a very stark assessment, but we are talking about a business here. Agents can talk about a loving for good writing, but the business requires that writing must sell. That query letter must persuade the agent, who then must have an editor at a publishing house in mind who would absolutely LOVE this project.
The advice you hear most from agents is that you must make the first part of the query read like the blurb on the back cover of a novel. I think I reached that point with my current query. If I was a guy waiting to get on an airplane, and I wanted to snag a thriller at the little bookstore on the concourse, I would pick up my novel based on this query. It gives a nice capsule of my main character, and sets up the conflict. I end that first part with a line that is more a tease than a revelation.
The second part of the query is succinct: The (insert title here, IN ALL CAPS) is a complete (insert genre here) of (insert word count here).
The third part is a brief personal biography. Tell the agent what you do in your day job, especially if that job lends credence to your writing skills. (If you do nails at Trixi's House of Bling, forget that information.) Tell the agent what separates you from the rest of the slush pile hopefuls. Tell the agent about your previous publishing history (that's a big seller), or writing contests you have won, or give a list of writing conferences you have attended. I include my participation in Pikes Peak Writers Conference events (a well-respected conference, for good reason), and that I am attending Donald Maass' week-long writing workshop later this year. I want that last part to give evidence to something at the center of my soul: I want to be a full-time published author, and I make strides to make that happen.
Here's a big tip: RESEARCH each agent to whom you are directing a query. Some have special parameters they want in a query that deviate from the standard format. Some want information on other writers with a style similar to yours. (I list John Hart and Lee Child, not to curry favor but because that is an accurate assessment.) Some want information on your ideas on how to properly market your novel. Some want the word "query" included in the title line. Others want "new submission." Learn what an agent wants, and tailor the query to best fit those needs.
See how easy that is? In order of performance, write a great novel, research each agent, write a boffo query letter, craft that query to fit that agent's needs, send off your query. Of course, there is the reality that you will only reach the slush pile, and your query will get a few seconds of time. If you strike a chord with an agent, you move closer to the Promised Land. If you don't, you join the crowded ranks of Slush Pile Rejects.
I have to be honest here. I can regard myself as a good guide on the perfect query letter only if I get published. Otherwise I am like a Catholic priest giving advice about a good marriage. I might have all the information, but I don't have the experience. Experience means knowledge, and knowledge means success. Or at least that's how I think it works.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Lesson Nine: Listen to Your Voice
When I launched into this literary world, I couldn't give you a proper definition of "voice" in a novel. I figured it was something akin to the time-honored explanation of "what is pornography?": It is hard to define, but I know it when I see it. That view has changed.
Here's the explanation I give today: Voice is your creative side speaking through your characters, setting, pacing, dialogue and detail. Let me accent the part of that definition that needs it. Voice is YOUR creative side. You can't force yourself into creating a character or writing in a genre with which you aren't comfortable. So what if vampires are the big literary hook these days, or zombies? If you don't have Anne Rice's heart and mind and aren't interested in detailing vampires, don't go there.
Which brings me to my main character in the novel I just completed. His name is Daniel Pace. Nice, simple name. He has a simple day job, but he has made extraordinary strides within that job. He has a history of violence. He isn't afraid to use violence now. OK, in many minds the name Jack Reacher just surfaced. Lee Child's creation is probably the most famous thriller hero out there. I won't go into detail about what separates Pace from Reacher, but there are many variations. (I will gladly talk about those differences with an agent or publishing house, however.) Those variations will take Pace far away from the Reacher story line. I am going to have fun detailing those variations and putting them up against bits of tension in later plots. Again, I won't go into detail, but I have the main story line for the third novel in the series as I continue to write the second Pace novel.
Of course, I have to talk about myself here because that character comes from my creative side. Those people who know me well know large parts of the Pace character are miles away from who I am. Violence? It's not my thing. I am the kind of guy who grabs a paper towel when my wife is spooked by a spider, picks up that spider and drops it outside. (Well, something like a black widow or brown recluse will become familiar with my boot heel, but a common house spider is spared.) However, I respect many of the attributes that lead to Pace's violent side, and I weave those attributes into Pace's character and plot line. If you read the first chapter of my first novel, you get certain insights into Pace. It is a short introduction to him, and the action follows in subsequent chapters.
I also deviate from some thriller writers in that the development of Pace's character won't be overpowered by action scene after action scene. I want to make Pace a real person caught up in this thriller world, not an automaton who surfaces to right the world's wrongs. He has a history that is separate from that violent side. There are things in his history that he wouldn't want others to know about, but readers will know about them about 80 percent of the way through the story line. He has a heart he guards carefully.
If I had to say why I came up with Pace as a main character, it is that I wish I knew the guy. He's an interesting fella. There are those attributes of his that I admire. There are those secrets. There are events I would love to sit down and listen to him give details. I would love to sit down and have a beer with him, but he's not a big beer drinker. Not much of a drinker of anything alcoholic.
Here's another part of my style I must mention in any discussion about voice. I have a history in journalism, and I can't shake that. Know what? I don't want to shake that. My writing style is very direct. This first novel in the series is 103,000 words only because complexities within the plot require it. I still get to the point in my storytelling.
I am reading "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn. It is a fantastic novel, but her style and mine are on separate sides of the spectrum. She takes a long time to detail her characters. I am 100 pages into the novel, and there are few parts of the main plot that she has unveiled. Her character development, however, is absolutely marvelous. I love the novel. She has ways of describing characters and little events in their lives, or little worries that surface, that are beautiful. It is one of those novels I can't wait to get back to reading. But Flynn and I walk down different paths in how we tell the story. I am much more plot-centric, but I leave room for character development.
I admit I have areas of creating voice I have to work on. It's part of the process, but like everything else in my literary efforts, I love being in that process.
Here's the explanation I give today: Voice is your creative side speaking through your characters, setting, pacing, dialogue and detail. Let me accent the part of that definition that needs it. Voice is YOUR creative side. You can't force yourself into creating a character or writing in a genre with which you aren't comfortable. So what if vampires are the big literary hook these days, or zombies? If you don't have Anne Rice's heart and mind and aren't interested in detailing vampires, don't go there.
Which brings me to my main character in the novel I just completed. His name is Daniel Pace. Nice, simple name. He has a simple day job, but he has made extraordinary strides within that job. He has a history of violence. He isn't afraid to use violence now. OK, in many minds the name Jack Reacher just surfaced. Lee Child's creation is probably the most famous thriller hero out there. I won't go into detail about what separates Pace from Reacher, but there are many variations. (I will gladly talk about those differences with an agent or publishing house, however.) Those variations will take Pace far away from the Reacher story line. I am going to have fun detailing those variations and putting them up against bits of tension in later plots. Again, I won't go into detail, but I have the main story line for the third novel in the series as I continue to write the second Pace novel.
Of course, I have to talk about myself here because that character comes from my creative side. Those people who know me well know large parts of the Pace character are miles away from who I am. Violence? It's not my thing. I am the kind of guy who grabs a paper towel when my wife is spooked by a spider, picks up that spider and drops it outside. (Well, something like a black widow or brown recluse will become familiar with my boot heel, but a common house spider is spared.) However, I respect many of the attributes that lead to Pace's violent side, and I weave those attributes into Pace's character and plot line. If you read the first chapter of my first novel, you get certain insights into Pace. It is a short introduction to him, and the action follows in subsequent chapters.
I also deviate from some thriller writers in that the development of Pace's character won't be overpowered by action scene after action scene. I want to make Pace a real person caught up in this thriller world, not an automaton who surfaces to right the world's wrongs. He has a history that is separate from that violent side. There are things in his history that he wouldn't want others to know about, but readers will know about them about 80 percent of the way through the story line. He has a heart he guards carefully.
If I had to say why I came up with Pace as a main character, it is that I wish I knew the guy. He's an interesting fella. There are those attributes of his that I admire. There are those secrets. There are events I would love to sit down and listen to him give details. I would love to sit down and have a beer with him, but he's not a big beer drinker. Not much of a drinker of anything alcoholic.
Here's another part of my style I must mention in any discussion about voice. I have a history in journalism, and I can't shake that. Know what? I don't want to shake that. My writing style is very direct. This first novel in the series is 103,000 words only because complexities within the plot require it. I still get to the point in my storytelling.
I am reading "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn. It is a fantastic novel, but her style and mine are on separate sides of the spectrum. She takes a long time to detail her characters. I am 100 pages into the novel, and there are few parts of the main plot that she has unveiled. Her character development, however, is absolutely marvelous. I love the novel. She has ways of describing characters and little events in their lives, or little worries that surface, that are beautiful. It is one of those novels I can't wait to get back to reading. But Flynn and I walk down different paths in how we tell the story. I am much more plot-centric, but I leave room for character development.
I admit I have areas of creating voice I have to work on. It's part of the process, but like everything else in my literary efforts, I love being in that process.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Bonus lesson: Read Your Novel Aloud
This entry comes with a big tip of the cap to Harlan Coben, who posted on Twitter recently that he reads his manuscript aloud as the final step before submission to the publishing house.
Here's a hint: It works. No, make that "it works great!"
I did this on the fourth read through my novel. What an eye-opener. I think writers get so locked in on small sections of their manuscripts while doing a normal edit that they forget to look at the entire picture. It's that "can't see the forest for the trees" problem. Reading the novel aloud corrects that. Give yourself an entire day's work time to do it, if you have written a novel of any size. Here's what I found once I read aloud:
The pacing wasn't right. I took too long in cutting to the chase (no pun intended). I had some great chapters that exposed my character's voice, and some backstory, that didn't need to be there. There was some good writing. I will admit that. It just didn't belong in the storytelling. So I cut it and condensed the information in small form elsewhere.
There were sentences and phrases that were extraneous. They were left on the cutting room floor.
There still was a typo or two I had missed. I know a publishing house will provide an overall edit and a line-by-line edit behind me, but the copy editor in me wants to get it right the first time.
There was a mistake in sequence. That is changed. (Robert Crais says he had one of his characters meeting another main character for the first time TWICE in his Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series. That can happen when you have written as many novels in a series as Crais has.)
There were reactions by characters that didn't fit into the whole scheme well. I am finishing this blog entry and correcting one of those areas. My main character should be ready to charge through a wall because of information he just learned, but I have him reacting more to another bit of action. That's just plain wrong.
Reading aloud ended with me cutting my novel by nearly 5,000 words. That's right, 5,000 words.
WHAT I AM READING NOW: Rereading "Beyond Fear," a nonfiction work I first read probably 17 years ago. It's the account of the first crossing of New Guinea from north to south without the use of motorized craft. It is a marvelous story. Next up: "The Gone Girl," which is likely the favorite to win the Edgar this year.
Here's a hint: It works. No, make that "it works great!"
I did this on the fourth read through my novel. What an eye-opener. I think writers get so locked in on small sections of their manuscripts while doing a normal edit that they forget to look at the entire picture. It's that "can't see the forest for the trees" problem. Reading the novel aloud corrects that. Give yourself an entire day's work time to do it, if you have written a novel of any size. Here's what I found once I read aloud:
The pacing wasn't right. I took too long in cutting to the chase (no pun intended). I had some great chapters that exposed my character's voice, and some backstory, that didn't need to be there. There was some good writing. I will admit that. It just didn't belong in the storytelling. So I cut it and condensed the information in small form elsewhere.
There were sentences and phrases that were extraneous. They were left on the cutting room floor.
There still was a typo or two I had missed. I know a publishing house will provide an overall edit and a line-by-line edit behind me, but the copy editor in me wants to get it right the first time.
There was a mistake in sequence. That is changed. (Robert Crais says he had one of his characters meeting another main character for the first time TWICE in his Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series. That can happen when you have written as many novels in a series as Crais has.)
There were reactions by characters that didn't fit into the whole scheme well. I am finishing this blog entry and correcting one of those areas. My main character should be ready to charge through a wall because of information he just learned, but I have him reacting more to another bit of action. That's just plain wrong.
Reading aloud ended with me cutting my novel by nearly 5,000 words. That's right, 5,000 words.
WHAT I AM READING NOW: Rereading "Beyond Fear," a nonfiction work I first read probably 17 years ago. It's the account of the first crossing of New Guinea from north to south without the use of motorized craft. It is a marvelous story. Next up: "The Gone Girl," which is likely the favorite to win the Edgar this year.
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