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It’s inevitable that as you start on your journey in creating a story, you don’t start at day one. So where do you start?

For me, when I first started writing, I started too early into the story. My friend Bethany helped the inexperienced me understand that the story starts often after the trauma, after the move, after the big change. That ridded me of my first two chapters of book one. Now, as I write, I try to start where the story actually begins, but I realize that often I still need someone to say, “Nope, here’s the start to your story.”

That leaves the backstory to be woven into the novel, not dumped in, but layered throughout.

Often, we tend to think that something can’t be cut because it’s important for the reader to know. So, my question is: How do you work it in without dumping it?

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Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

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There are a few sites that I sign up for their email. One is Guide to Literary Agents Editor’s Blog. It gives you great insights into the world of the agent. A recent article by Debbie Fuhry, an inspirational fiction writer, lists 7 things she’s learned.

1. Look before you leap.

2. Don’t be cheap.

3. Find a writing group.

4. Make the best use of writer’s conferences.

5. Don’t bypass the agent.

6. Cheer on other writers.

7. Keep your expectations in line with reality.

To read the full article, go to Guide to Literary Agents and learn why I subscribe.

For more on Debbie, visit her site or her blog.

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Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

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We interrupt this regular day to bring you some HUGE NEWS!

Our very own JAMIE HARRINGTON HAS AN AGENT!

Yep, you read that correctly!

Jamie joined us not long after we started here, and has been an intricate part to our site. (She and her husband created it for us.) So we couldn’t be more thrilled to announce that:

Victoria Horn from Liza Dawson Associates

has signed on to be her agent!

Congratulations to Jamie and Victoria, I am sure they will make a great team!

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Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

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I write my novels with a partner – three with my husband and now two with a friend I have known for over 20 years. So it’s not surprising that the question most asked at my book signings is “how do you manage to write with someone else?”

First, let me say why I like to collaborate. The process of writing is intrinsically a lonely one. You have to sit down in front of a completely blank page (or computer screen) and conjure up characters who will, if you do your job right, come alive as if you’d literally given birth to them. The plot lines you create for these characters must be both imaginative and believable. That’s really hard. Being able to bounce ideas off a writing buddy is, for me, a way to expand my creativity – especially when I hit a blank wall on a plot point or some issue related to a character’s personality. It’s also a wonderful motivator. There is something about knowing you have to get words down on the page because your partner is waiting that’s a great kick in the pants. And best of all, when you are lucky enough to have your novel published and your publicist books you for speaking engagements on TV or radio appearances, there is someone to lean on should you find yourself tied up with butterflies just before going on.

Okay, so once you decide to develop a partnership, how does it work?

I have heard a few writers who collaborate liken a writing partnership to a marriage. And now that I have written with both my husband and a woman friend, I can say that that’s not a bad analogy, except for one thing – since my real life marriage of 38 years is, I believe. uniquely compatible, there were far fewer preliminary matters to deal with as there were with someone I didn’t know nearly as well. Joel (my husband) and I have practiced medicine together, written nonfiction medical articles and books together, gone to business school together and run a consulting business together. We’ve had plenty of experience working out division of labor issues, so we very naturally fell into what have become our specific roles as novelists (for example, he’s a better editor, I’m better at writing the first draft, he’s good at the story’s overview, I enjoy managing all the little details as the plot unfolds). I will admit that the first book was the hardest – we had only been married 12 years! There was some push and pull as to whose version of a scene was best. However, once we had that first book sold, we learned that the publisher’s editor takes her red pen to your prose anyway and often scenes we’d agreed on between ourselves required yet another rewrite anyway. Now the process is much smoother.

Because it’s been so easy with my husband, I assumed it would be equally easy with any writing partner. Not true. Although Linda and I had been colleagues and friends, it really isn’t the same as living with someone on a day-to-day basis for many years. Not only that, we were trying to write together long distance- Linda lives in LA, I live in Florida. The time difference as well as the miles between us added additional stress. Friendship is a good way to begin a writing partnership. but if you’re not careful, it can end it too. So here are a few things we wish we had discussed before we started our first book and which, I think in hindsight, would have avoided the various difficulties we encountered along the way.

It’s probably a good idea to have a written document with agreed upon items stipulated formally.  Think of it as the equivalent of a prenup – hopefully the relationship won’t break up, but if it does, you’ve clarified “who gets what” so that it doesn’t have to be acrimonious.

1. How will you share the money you make from the book? I recommend 50/50 unless it’s clear from the start that this isn’t an equal partnership. I am assuming that your novel’s copyright will be in both names.
2. How will you share any expenses that arise while you are writing (for example: new software for writing, web making, video, etc)?
3. How will you share marketing expenses above and beyond what your publisher may pay once the book is sold? These days except perhaps for the very top sellers, publishers expect authors to take on more of the marketing costs themselves
4. Who will have the final word on contract negotiations? This can be very tricky because you both want to sell your novel, but one of you may be more willing than the other to hold out for a better offer or want to negotiate better terms such as keeping certain ancillary rights. If you don’t agree to present a united front, it puts you both in a weaker bargaining position.
5. Agree that you will meet deadlines. That means finishing your assigned chapter or completing rewrites or edits when you say you will. This is a place where lots of partnerships go awry. And that’s why #6 and #7 are so critical
6. Agree that you will let your partner know if personal life issues are keeping you from meeting your obligations.
7. Agree to talk about problems. Here’s where the marriage analogy comes in. My husband and I agreed from day one that we would talk through our disagreements and that we would never go to bed angry. A writing partnership should have a similar agreement, That way you don’t let upsets simmer, so that you start resenting each other.

Finally:

1. Don’t forsake your friendship for your work relationship. Because Linda and I both had full time job and family responsibilities, we tended to communicate in work mode only, trying to get tasks related to our writing done in between the rest of our lives. Frankly it took my husband’s pointing this out to make me realize that we’d stopped talking about anything else. Now we try to make time to catch up on mutual friends and other non-writing related topics. It’s really helped to strengthen our friendship and our writing partnership. We ‘re now ready to start working on novel #3 in our new Sammy Greene thriller series.

BIO: Deborah Shlian is a physician, healthcare consultant and recruiter, as well as author of nonfiction and fiction (medical mystery thrillers). Novels co-written with her husband are: Double Illusion, Wednesday’s Child and Rabbit in the Moon. Rabbit in the Moon won this year’s Gold Medal for the Florida Book Award, the Silver Medal for ForeWord Magazine’s Mystery Book of the Year, an Indie Excellence Award and was named a National Best Books Award Finalist by USA Book News. Check all the Shlians’ writing on their website at hpttp://www.shlian.com

Novels co-written with Deborah’s friend and colleague, Linda Reid are: Dead Air which is the first in the new Sammy Greene thriller series to be released in December in hardback and eBook format and Devil Wind which is the second in the Sammy Greene series and will be released in early 2011. Check out their writing on the new website: http://www.sammygreene.com

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When looking for an agent, how many rejections does it take to make you shelf a novel? To call it quits? Well, hopefully this will help you remember that its a number game and encourage you to press on.

A friend of mine gave me a copy of this story when he started his own business, and thought it held true to everything we do in life. I am taking a few liberties at the end, replacing the word “people” with “AGENTS”. I hope this helps anyone who is struggling. The author is UNKNOWN.

GO THROUGH THE NUMBERS

Let me tell you a story. Mark Yarnell, minister in a small town in Texas, was headed for bankruptcy and just about to lose his car and home. He looked for a way out and discovered Network Marketing. Luckily, he had a wise sponsor.

The sponsor gave Mark “THE PROMISE”:

THIS BUSINESS CAN SET YOU FREE FINANCIALLY IN ONE TO THREE YEARS.

But he also gave him “THE PRICE”: TO SUCCEED, YOU WILL HAVE TO FACE AND CONQUER 4 MAJOR ENEMIES.

Mark said, “It’s a deal.”

Mark then invited 200 friends over to his house to watch a video. 80 said, “No, not interested.” Mark had encountered:

ENEMY #1: REJECTION. My sponsor warned me about that. But I’ve still got 120 people coming over.”

Guess what? 50 didn’t show up. He had just met

ENEMY #2: DECEPTION. Mark thought, “No problem, my sponsor warned me about that. I’ve got 70 people who watched the tape.”

57 said, “Not interested.” He had just encountered

ENEMY #3: APATHY. Undaunted, Mark thought, “No problem. 13 people signed up.”

Guess what? 12 of them dropped out of the business shortly thereafter.

ENEMY #4: ATTRITION had left Mark with just one serious associate. To this day, that single distributor earns Mark over $50,000 per month.

You may have heard of Bill Britt, one of the most successful distributors in Amway. Some years ago, 20/20 did a feature story on Amway. They spent 19 minutes interviewing whiners and complainers—several distributors who had failed and showed the garages full of products they couldn’t sell. During the last minute of the show, Mr. Britt was interviewed in front of his palatial home. He was asked, “Mr. Britt, this business has obviously worked for you. What’s your secret?”

He replied, “There is no secret. I simply showed the plan to 1200 people. 900 said ‘No.’ and only 300 signed up. Out of those 300, only 85 did anything at all. Out of those 85, only 35 were serious, and out of those 35, 11 made me a millionaire.” Like Mark Yarnell, Bill worked through the numbers.

Jason Boreyko, now president of New Vision, told this story. When he was a distributor in Matol, he signed up 50 people. He heard a lot of “Nos” on the way to those 50. Jason took one man, who he knew would be terrific in the business, to lunch, told him about the business and the man said “No.” Jason took the man to lunch again the next month and told him the updates. Once again the man said, “No.” That went on for six months. The seventh month, something had changed for the man, and he said, “Yes.” That man made Jason over one million dollars. Jason also worked through his numbers.

According to Richard Poe in “Wave Three”, while starting Amway, Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel, America’s eleventh richest people, recruited 500 people. 495 dropped out. The five that didn’t quit built Amway. All $7 BILLION of Amway’s business was built under those 5 people. Jay and Rich had to work through their numbers.

HERE’S THE LESSON: You success is directly related to the degree to which you are willing to work to find an AGENT.

Mark Yarnell’s odds were 1 out of 200.

Bill Britt’s were 11 out of 1200.

Jason Boreyko’s were 1 in 50. (After many Nos.)

Would you be willing to go through 200 AGENTS to find the 1 who will get you published?

Here’s the catch: YOU HAVE YOUR OWN SET OF ODDS AND YOU WON’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE UNTIL AFTER YOU’VE SUCCEEDED. So if you’ve gone through 50 or 100 AGENTS and you haven’t found THE ONE, either you can give up and assume they don’t exist, or you can recognize that you are working through your own numbers.

THE TRUTH ABOUT REACHING GOALS:

Be faithful to your dreams!

Get really CLEAR on what YOU want!

Hang around successful and motivational people! Forget about the one’s who put you down!

Identify YOUR dreams.

Let no one or any challenge stand in the way of accomplishing your dreams!

Learn from others who are successful.

Set priorities. Do not let anything or anyone permit you to become sidetracked.

Your goals must be pursued EVERY DAY! This can be full-time or part-time, but never sometimes.

WRITE down your goals, and READ them every day.

Review your goals regularly and update them if needed.

HOW TO SET HIGHER GOALS

Answer this question for yourself: “WHY NOT ME, AND WHY NOT NOW?”

Become TEACHABLE! Become a sincere student of those who HAVE DONE IT. Be willing to pay the price.

Know that big goals come with bigger price tags.

Make a clear decision that you are going to do it. Be splecific!

Make your plan, plan your work, and them work, work, work your plan!

YOUR SUCCESS IS UP TO YOU!

We really can do this! All of us. I believe it.

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Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

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