After three years of work on my first novel, I was pretty exhausted. I’d written the initial draft of WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW in third person,  then another version in the first person voices of the three main characters. The third year found me back in the third person for another round.  I was starting to resent my characters, wondering why they were taking so long to tell their story, and hoping they didn’t plan to drag it into a Michener-length piece of fiction.

My editor advised a detour from the novel to explore the backroads. She suggested I take background situations and build short stories around them. The result would be a better understanding of the characters, finished work for literary journals and contest submissions, and . . . a needed break from the tedium of the novel.

In the next six months I crafted over ten stories. Several pieces were flash fiction of between 250 & 1,000 words.  The others were in the 2,500 – 3,000 word range. They were sent to journals and contests, and because there was a variety of material, I had the ability to send out a new story if I received a positive rejection that turned down the submission but invited future work.

I went back to the novel with a renewed interest and fresh ideas about structure. Certain character traits came to light as I wrote the short pieces, leading me to approach the novel-length story from a different angle. It developed a beginning, middle, and end that made sense in under 90,000 words. I had a finished, polished manuscript within the year.

That’s the “writing life” part of the story. Now for the “marketing” part. After a few of the stories were accepted for publication, I added to my agent query, “Stories based on the lead characters have been published online and in anthologies,” giving credibility to my writing and my characters .

At a recent conference, an agent suggested that I post the unpublished stories on my website and then do promotion to drive readers to the site. She noted a recent client who did this. The traffic numbers helped to build a selling point for the publisher pitch, showing that readers were already familiar with the characters and would be inclined to buy the book for more of their story.

The first of my RITA & SYLVIE stories posted last month at www.gingerbcollins.com. It’s the initial step in a campaign that began as a detour and will hopefully serve as the path to agent representation and publication of my first novel.

BIO

Ginger B. Collins writes short fiction and creative non-fiction. Her work appears online and has been published in Freckles to Wrinkles, Silver Boomers, and the newly released Scratch Anthology of Short Fiction. She recently completed her first novel. Read excerpts at www.gingerbcollins.com.

In her blog, OFF THE TOP OF MY RED HEAD, Ginger applies a past career in sales, marketing, and PR to her new role as author, sharing links and writer resources while exploring subjects like social media, agent search, and writer platforms. All writers are invited to follow the blog and share experiences. http://coppertopcollins.blogspot.com.

Ginger and her husband, Melvin, are avid sailors, and would be content to spend life onboard, cruising coastal waters and exploring land from the shoreline in. Until then, they winter in the Southeast and summer in Atlantic Canada.

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When I started writing, I admit, I knew little about narrative styles. I simply started telling the story from the voice in my head–that of my seventeen year old narrator, Grace Ann Miller.

When I submitted my manuscript to my pre-editor at The Editorial Department for editing, I learned something I had never considered or expected. My narrator, Grace is unreliable–and that is a professional term. Apparently, writing in first person is difficult enough without adding the point of view of an ‘unreliable narrator’ on top of it.

To paraphrase the more than forty-five minute discussion I had with my pre-editor, an unreliable narrator is someone who cannot be relied upon to recall the true or best version of events. This can be for any number of reasons and will depend, of course, on your story. In my case, Grace is confused, somewhat incoherent, unaware of her surroundings and suffering from a wicked headache. Thus she cannot possibly be considered a reliable narrator–yet, there she is, filling us all in on her version of rather important events.

Being thrust into the mind of an unreliable narrator can be jarring for a reader. As such it is important to stabilize the reader to ensure that (s)he is not lost in the mind of the narrator and eventually trust the narrator’s version of events. OR, even if the reader never comes to trust the narrator’s version of events, (s)he can learn to trust her own instincts about what is happening because you the writer has grounded her and made her feel as if she can in fact trust her own instincts about what she is experiencing.

By doing so, you make it easier for the reader to believe in the story they are being told and in many cases, believe in and root for the character. Without that very important piece, your reader will not feel a connection to the story or the main character thus limiting her ability to fully engage with your book.

Remember, you know what you’re talking about, your narrator knows but you don’t want your readers scratching their heads. Below are some tips you can use to make your unreliable narration easier on your reader.

1. Let your readers know upfront that your protag is an unreliable narrator as early in the story as possible by making sure they know that not everything that comes from the person’s mouth is to be trusted. This creates a sense of trust between the author and the reader. Remember, your narrator may consider her/himself completely reliable.
2. Use creative methods to confirm or deny the unreliable’s accounting of what is happening for the reader when something is in question. This can be done using dialogue (other characters), epilogues, journal entries, flashbacks, flashforwards, etc. Sometimes simply describing a character’s physical response to the unreliable narrator can do the trick.
3. Whatever you do, don’t take the easy way out and say, “it was all a dream.”

Have fun with your unreliable narrator. Don’t be afraid to experiment with her/his POV.

Good luck!

www.georgiamcbridebooks.com

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Georgia used to produce websites for a living. Then she quit that job to follow her passion and manage rock bands and market music.

She is an avid music lover, a songwriter and singer. So, when she writes, music finds a way in her stories.

She did lot’s of freelance work feeling completely out of sorts and utterly without direction. So in August 2008–Praefatio was conceived and her official life as a young adult author began. Now, she writes urban fantasy/paranormal books for teenagers.

NOT OFFICIAL COVER

photo credit: Mariana Britto

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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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My new book, Quantum Earth, started off as many books do: as a dream. I was hearing a lot about the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012. This intrigued me. I studied up on everything I could about it and found that the Mayans were the first to record time, and that time ended on the winter solstice in the year 2012. There are also other sources talking about the end of the world happening around the same time. The Hopi Prophesies speak of the Blue Star Kachina. There is talk about the poles shifting too, causing monumental natural disasters.

I set my book right in the middle of all this. I decided to create a team of metaphysical scientists who were studying this phenomena. They found that there were already tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, etcetera, that were off the charts compared to what had come before. It was like the Earth was preparing for its final death throes.

I created several very different characters on this team who each brought something fresh and new to the perspective. I created them to be able to argue out several points. The main thing they are trying to find out is if humans are somehow creating what is happening with their thoughts.

They are asking; do we create our own reality?

The two main characters, Hawk and Shauna, have a budding relationship, so there is some sexual tension involved. I love a good love story, and felt that would fit in nicely within the story. There are some pretty hot scenes in this book!

There is one character, Noah, who is a trance channeler. The team hosts large group sessions that aren’t quite what one would normally attend. His job, through his spirit guide Jackson, is to determine the mind-set of the people who have crossed over to find out if they were thinking the world was too far gone and needed to be wiped clean. I decided to make this purposely unclear, so there would still be tension in the story.

Of course there has to be a bad guy. I made mine particularly nasty. His name is Beckham, and he is the money behind the project. The twist here is that he also has a spirit guide who is evil. He had been one of Hitler’s top scientists during his latest past life.

When I was finished writing I put the manuscript away for several weeks. Then I went back to it and rewrote a lot of it. I read it over and over again. Then I submitted query letters to every publisher and agent who fit my work. I finally found two who wanted it. I made my choice and had a very good editor who helped me edit and polish until it was gleaming. We must have sent it back and forth ten times! I kept finding things that didn’t ring true.

In the end I was quite happy with it.

Julie Achterhoff is the mother of five, with one son still living at home. She has been writing on and off for many years, especially in the thriller genres. She enjoys reading others’ work, weaving, hiking, and spending a lot of time with her son, Sage. Julie lives on the North Coast of California in a small town called Arcata between the Redwoods and the Pacific Ocean. If you’re interested in obtaining a copy of Quantum Earth right now you can get free shipping. Go to http://www.allthingsthatmatterpress.com

Julie’s webpage is at http://www.julieachterhoff.com

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As much as I love being a writer, there are times when the realization that I have taken on too much work suddenly hits me and I’m faced with several looming deadlines!
Nothing stilts the creative process more than anxiety and no writer likes to miss an important deadline as it appears unprofessional. Of course panicking inwardly is not the answer to solving the deadline crisis and in fact, it only adds ever increasing pressure to the situation. Mounting stress can cause writers block in abundance so the best way that I have found is to try and still the mind, eradicate those deadline concerns and open myself up to new potential answers.

One of the best proven methods to help stem the rising pressure on a personal level is yogic breathing exercises, used correctly, they can help to calm the nerves, still the mind and alleviate any stress headaches too.

I have also used affirmations to give my flagging confidence a boost when I am running out of time. Simple affirmations such as ‘I will complete this project on time and I will do it well’ can endorse inner confidence and focus the brain. If it sounds a bit far fetched, try it, I assure you it works, but you do need to say it regularly and with some conviction.

Simple meditation and visualization techniques also have great benefits and if used either last thing at night or first thing in the morning, can help ease the pressure and allow me to remain calm. Using essential oils are another benefit as they can either relax or increase mental alertness depending on the individual’s need at the time.

I’m sure other writers have their own tried and tested methods of beating deadlines but perhaps the best one of all would be to carefully select the projects which inspire you the most and have a carefully mapped out agenda to follow which will enable you to complete on time.

Annette Young is editor of www.creative-competitor.co.uk an inspirational writing resource for writers of all levels with a free weekly newsletter with author interviews, competitions, articles and festival news etc.
As a freelance writer, she specializes in writing articles and e-books for the complimentary health markets drawing on her qualifications as stress management, relaxation and addiction therapist.
Her blogs include: www.annette-young.com and www.write-fiction.com

–
Annette Young
Freelance Writer/Editor

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This post was written for small business owners and sales personnel, so why is it published on a writing website? Because that’s exactly what we need to be in order to sale ourselves to an agent, publisher, and ultimately to the public at large. Take what you can.

Thank you, Diane, for sharing your knowledge with us.

Diane earned a BS in Social Science from Michigan State University and received her coaching certification from The Coach Training Alliance.

As a certified, professional coach and president of Seize This Day Coaching, Diane works with people starting their own business, salespeople who need and want to improve their skills, and business owners who want to master challenges and realize greater success. She is also co-founder of Seize True Success, a coaching practice dedicated to helping franchisees grow and prosper.

Diane helps businesses and organizations operate more constructively and profitably. She evaluates, encourages, and guides her clients. Working with as few as one person to as many as 100+, Diane creates an environment that is cooperative and interactive.

Coupled with her business acumen are strong intuitive skills and a genuine desire to help other people realize their potential.

Diane is a COSE Mindspring editor and writer for www.examiner.com. She is also a member of the Top Sales Experts panel at www.topsalesexperts.com. Diane is also a contributing author to Chicken Soup for the Soul: Power Moms.
To learn more about her coaching practices please visit www.seizethisdaycoaching.com or www.seizetruesuccess.com

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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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