Stuck in the Middle of my Next Novel with Rebellious Characters

I’m stuck in the middle of my next novel. Actually, this particular one swept down on me in the middle of my last next novel, which I put on hold to write this one.

Sure, I was unusually busy last week, so just thought how much I should have been working on my WIP v.s. doing all those busy, necessary things. Today, I have no excuse (except to procrastinate a bit longer by posting a new blog post). But, stuck as I am in writing beyond chapter eleven, I couldn’t figure out what was my real hold up. I knew the plot arch; I knew the conflicts; I’d written the last two chapters, so knew the ending; I wasn’t feeling like it was the saggy middle, just the saggy author.

I’ve discovered that part of the problem of being a writer is also that you sometimes must stop and psychoanalyze yourself before moving on. So I thought and thought about it and finally discovered what my problem was: I hadn’t named all my characters.

In THE TOWN THAT DISAPPEARED, I wrote the teacher’s name as “Miss ABC” until about halfway through the novel when I gave her a real name. Now I’m halfway through this present tale and I realized that I haven’t named several of my secondary characters. For instance, I’ve been calling one of them BARREL, picturing him in my mind as a roundish guy. However, he’s with the protagonist from chapter three until the end of the book.

What I’ve come to realize what is happening with this present writers block is that my characters are rebelling on me. “Give us our names!” they shout inside my head. (Now, how is a writer supposed to write anything at all when there’s all that shouting going on? Please!) So today, instead of plunging ahead with another chapter, I’m going to have some sit-down dialogue time with my mutinying, sea-faring characters. I won’t interview them. They’re too rough and tough to tolerate that. Oh! I know! I’ll get them drunk at some port tavern and let them spill their guts and life stories out to me and see if I believe any of them. (And, yes, this is a children’s book, but the adults are, well, adults; and no, they don’t get drunk in the story.)

Like with a Native American naming ceremony, I’ve got to get t0 know my distinct characters better before I can name them. And my story won’t move on until I do name them. So please excuse me while I go belly up to the bar with my secondary characters. (hick)

Emmersed in Research and the Lakota People

Our church youth group is heading to a South Dakota Indian Reservation in a couple of weeks. Having spent ten years teaching in West River (the western side of the state), I know a little about the Lakota culture. I came home from church, wanting to put together a five-day read/devotion/meditation for our youth. I dug out my semester of Indian Studies notes and poured over the many books I have on the Lakota peoples. I found it amusing that as I was reading about time (commonly refered to by non-Indians as Indian Time) I totally lost track of it. To try to explain Indian Time here and now it would undoubtedly get lost in the translation, even though I’d use English words.

As I looked up Lakota words and songs, children’s faces flashed before me. Parents’ faces flashed before me. Grammas’ faces flashed before me. And I wondered how could I possibly honor a people in five short paragraphs? Part of me thought, “Let the youth group be Wakanesha – child spirits — and I’ll just wait and watch them after they return.” I think that is the attitude many Indians have of non-Indians, anyway, that we are Wakanesha, although they would be too polite to admit it. I have a couple of weeks to decide if I am going to put together a five-day read for them or not, but after spending several hours pouring over Lakota pictures, words and memories, at the moment I’m leaning towards the not.

Pulling this back to my writing blog and writing research. I’m just wondering if any other writer has this same odd thing happen to her or him? That while you are hours in on your research, you forget who and especially where or when you are, and instead you are watching and listening to another culture, another time, another place. And I also wonder, do you get Research Jet Lag when you look up and realize your present reality? I’m trying to shake off this “jet lag” because there are things I must get done today, while my body is telling me I need a nap to recover from my intense time of research.

Summer Festival — An Opportunity to Promote and Grow

I just came off of two days of May’d in Michigan, an event held near my hometown where I promoted my middle grade historical fiction, THE TOWN THAT DISAPPEARED. When I first read of the event, I thought, “What a clever title.” And since my book is about a Michigan town, it was written in Michigan, and I was made (born) in Michigan, why not try for it? I applied as a vender and was accepted. I sent in my vender fee, and then the panic set in. What in the world did I know about being a vender? I’d attended many fairs and festivals, of course, but only as an attendee. This was entirely different. In fact, the first morning, my nervous stomach was trying to convince me, “Phooey with the fee. Stay home and be safe.” But as I’m not really one who backs out of commitments, I ignored my innards and trudged warily onward.

My first thought of setting up at the event was to keep it simple. I’ve found that simple always a good plan. So I planned on a card table with copies of my book on it. With a chair and pen, I’d be all set. Of course, I’d be wearing my Victorian outfit with hat, so would physically be a potential draw. I knew I needed water so I wouldn’t dehydrate, and bug spray… so I wouldn’t dehydrate. By the time of set up, my “booth” was a bit more elaborate, including a newly purchased canopy, for which I was very thankful; not because it rained, because it hadn’t, but because we were in the woods. The canopy top, not my table top, was littered with fallen pine needles and bugs.

Financially during the two days, I pretty much broke even with the sale of my books, if you don’t count the fire extinguisher each booth was to have. I’m also thinking I was the only one with a fire extinguisher. It was tucked away under my little card table. Still, the weather was lovely and I was in the woods. (I love the woods.) By doing this, I stretched out and tried something new, and even sold a few books.

But the best of the time was that I got to meet new people. My husband bought me a t-shirt which reads across the front: “Careful, or you’ll end up in one of my novels.” Okay. I’ll change the gender or age or size or the person, but there are interesting characters all around us, just waiting to be written down. So go out and do some personal stretching. Try something new and meet new characters, I mean, new people. You may just find someone you put in your next story.

 

Queen of the Story Starters

Someone once asked me if I have another book in the works. I nearly choked on room air. How about another twenty-five in the works? And, yes, those are twenty-five completed rough drafts I’ve started but never got back to to complete. Most of those rough drafts have seen many revisions or even rewrites over the years, but I would not be willing to send them to an agent or publisher or even self-publish them because when I stand back and take a serious look, they just don’t make the cut. For each of those stories, I would want to deeply re-think and then deeply re-revise before I’d pursue publication in any form.

Actually, twenty-five drafted novels isn’t really much to brag about for queenship. So why am I bold enough to take up the crown? It’s those thousands of story ideas which I’ve started with a chapter, a page, or even just a very cool title or thought. I love writing. I love letting my fingers fly over the keyboard. I love taking pen in hand and more thoughtfully writethings out in script. I could probably have easily a hundred ideas in a day if I allowed myself to be mind-blank, or rather mind-open, and were to write them all down. (Hmm. Is this a sign of ADD? I’ve never been diagnosed. But I digress.) But in order to complete a story, i.e., ready it for publication, I need to focus on that story and that story alone.

I have two major writing goals. One is to produce a well-written finished product. Two is to keep ideas freely flowing. The first writing goal is for others. The second writing goal is for me, and allow for my own creativity.

I am a visual learner. I can stare at a photo or picture for a long time and get lost in it, the artist, the lives of the characters, the feel of the breeze on my cheek in a still room. I get antsy going into art museums because there is so much in each piece. I could easily be that odd person who sits on a bench in front of something which snags my fancy and look as though I am comatose as I totally get lost in my thoughts stirred by what I see frozen before me. Lives unfold. Every detail has history and feelings. I have a large print in my house of a relative from the 1700′s going to a prison. There are dozens of people in the print. I could write a story about each and every one of those people.

Here is my gift to you today: a story starter from a photo I took. Happy writing.

What is success?

Today, a friend congratulated me on my success of being a published author. Maybe it’s because I’m coming down with a cold, but instead of responding to what he said, I merely stared back. (Belated sorry, Brian.)

“Don’t you feel that it’s been successful?” he asked.

Some more creepy sickie-staring on my part before I sucked in a breath just to let him know I was still alive. However, his comment gave me honest pause. My book, THE TOWN THAT DISAPPEARED, has been available for about a month. I haven’t read any stats about how many books are sold by authors in the first month of their first book, so I ignorantly have nothing to compare it with. Instead, my whole sickie-throught-process made me not worry about what success means to others, but what success means to me.

I decided I love the creative act of storytelling and writing. Being able to do that in itself feels successful. Writing regularly and sending chapters through my critique group on schedule is successful. Completing any project is successful. Setting it aside, starting another, and coming back to the first for a few dozen revisions is successful. But most of all, sharing with kids and teaching them about writing and history feels awesome.

In summary, yes, I feel successful because I completed a project and equally because I get to teach kids. Is my book successful? I’ll have to get back to you on that one.

Climbing Mount Baldy… Today

When I started the climb up Mout Baldhead in Saugatuck, Michigan, today, I was totally surprised with how out of breath I got going up the steps. Usually I only stop once or twice in order to catch my breath. Today, I took four extended breaks, thankful that I was alone so no one could witness my pitiful upward trek. I blamed it on my lax winter activities. Even with reasonable excuses, this need for extra rest upset me… until… on my way down a bit later, I passed two groups of people going up and noticed that each of them, too, struggled and often stopped for extended rests, even more and longer than I had. And considering I am quite a bit older than any of the other climbers (and, no one in the other groups was younger than an older teen), it all gave me pause.

My wonderment and reason came together as I considered it all. At last I decided on the cause of my/our panting: lack of oxygen! There were no leaves on the trees, and not even a pine tree offering its needles for oxygen. So, I concluded that I was not an old foggy, that I was not out of shape; I just needed air.

(That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.)

Marketing Plan for Self-Published Authors, Amazon and KDP

By doing a three-month crash course on marketing and promotion and publicizing, I figured I would be prepared for when my first children’s novel, THE TOWN THAT DISAPPEARED, came out last month. These past decades, I’ve focused on becoming a better writer, and each new story, I feel I accomplish some better piece of literature. But marketing is new to me. It’s like learning a foreign language. I’ve learned enough over the past four months, that each morning when I wake up, I check my pillow, certain things leaked out of my ears overnight.

I don’t know that I’ll ever be prepared, but so far these are the things I’ve learned:

1) Get over yourself. In other words, talk about your book whenever you can. After all, it’s an awesome book! Share about it with others, even if you are the author. Personally, I find it simple to be social and can easily talk to anyone and nearly about any subject. What I find difficult to do is talk about my book and me. I reiterate: Get over yourself.

2) Get your domain name, web host, and website up so you have something to point to for curious or interested parties.

3) Bite the bullet and plan on doing a lot of freebies A certain American soda pop became very popular about one hundred years ago because in the beginning, the majority of income from the product was reinvested into advertizing. How does this translate to a self-published author? Do free school visits, donate copies of your book to both schools and public libraries, advertize free Kindle days with Amazon,  etc.

4) Get reviews. Ask for several — like from the people you’ve given your free books to — and expect to have a few do it. If you have the money, pay some of the big reviewers to do it.

5) Aim for a book promotion once a month, e.g., a book launch, a book signing, a blog tour (with book giveaways), making a book trailer, and certainly use your free Kindle days under the KDP plan.

6) Start locally, and then spread out. Locally may include newspaper, magazines, radio and TV, as well as schools. (Keep in mind point #1 when you do this.)

7) Contact places relevant to themes in your book. For instance, if your book involves horses, contact riding stables, camps, horse supply stores, etc. to see if they would stock your book.

8) Prepare presentations for various ages or various topics. For me, as a former literacy teacher, teaching about writing comes naturally. My book also deals with history and ecology issues. I have eight separate presentations for kids K-8 and one for teachers. The talks, of course, vary with the age group. Plus, I like to ask the teachers ahead of time what they would like to see presented to their kids. I also give the teachers a presentation evaluation sheet so I know what worked and what didn’t. Just as with writing my stories, I also need to revise my presentations.

9) Make reasonable goals: contact X number of bookstores to stock your books; contact 100 schools in a year for author visits; follow-up on every bookstore and school you contacted. Realize that this goal is only the number contacted, not the number who agree.

10) Do not neglect contact with your fellow writers. The nature of writing is to do it alone, but we are not alone. If you are not already a member of a writing organization (like SCBWI, RMA, etc.), join one. Learn from those who have gone before.

And always remember, you are a writer. You may give yourself permission to take a writing break in order to learn new things, like researching the marketing field, but do not neglect that next story which you are sending through your critique group. Keep on writing.

When’s your next book coming out?

One question several people ask me is, “So, when is your next book coming out?”

I should just answer, “Why, thank you. This summer.” But I don’t.

When I explain that it took eight years for his particular story (THE TOWN THAT DISAPPEARED), from story seed to publication, the asker usually pops open his or her eyes. When I explain that for the past thirty years I’ve been learning the craft of writing by reading books, participating in critique groups, attending writers conferences, joining writing organizations and listservs, taking classes, etc., their look changes to, “I’m sorry I even asked.” But masochist that I am — I mean, teacher that I am — and wanting non-writers to realize what all goes into becoming a good writer and a published author, I continue on that as a self-published author, I must also do all the marketing, promotions and publications. By this point their eyes are glazed over, staring over my shoulder at something in a tree behind me.

Short answer: This coming summer!

My Self-Publishing Trip – A 30-Year Rush

A newspaper journalist interviewed me this month about my writing and writing process. His first question started with, “So most writers are in a rush to see their name in print when they self-publish–” I laughed and said, “It’s been a thirty-year rush.” I explained that I’ve been learning about the craft and keeping up with the industry and writing lots of stories, articles and novels over the past thirty years; that I attend writers conferences, take classes, read books about writing; and that I’m a member of several writers groups and several critique groups. One critique group has been going on for over twelve years.

I explained to the journalist that my book, THE TOWN THAT DISAPPEARED, took me four years to write with twenty-five rewrites or revisions, and that an editor from a traditional press told me that “everyone in the editorial group loves it and sees it as a series.” The rejection came after one bookseller in the acquisitions group convinced the rest that historical novels don’t make money. After a year of depression, and after the change in attitude towards self-publishing by professionals in the industry, only then did I decided to self-publish.

I’ve been working on the sequel to THE TOWN THAT DISAPPEARED for the past two and a half years, but have basically given up on all my WIPs for the past three months in order to first, research self-publishing, and second, research marketing and promoting.

Four years ago, I dipped my toe into the self-publishing world and published three retold folk tales. I also had traditional editors interested in these, but then came the recession of 2008. I’ve sold about six copies of these tales. Why so few? Because I merely published them and foolishly thought people would find the title through my interesting tags to spend the ninety-nine cents to buy them.

Research. It’s not just about researching for your novel writing. With self-publishing, it’s vital to research promoting and marketing as well.

I’m still a newbie at this process. But this I do know, and it’s the best advice I can give: do your research.

Really Happy and Really Sad News

Two reasons for my l-o-n-g time since no blogging:

1) My children’s book, THE TOWN THAT DISAPPEARED, is now out. It is a middle grade historical fiction, set in the late 1800′s, about a town which became buried by moving sand dunes as a result of clear-cut forestry. The photo at the top of this blog shows the decaying dock pilings from the era, with the “new” (1906) channel markers in the background. Since my 12-year-old MC is a secret knitter, last Saturday, Your Local Yarn Shop in Battle Creek hosted my book launch. It was a success.

About two months ago, I contacted teachers I knew to do school author visits. Teaching about writing, and history, with kids — what FUN! As a former teacher, being in schools and around kids is closer to my first than second nature. So far, I’ve presented in three schools and talked to seventeen classrooms of students, K-4. One teacher friend scheduled me to speak to every class in her school, except the first graders who couldn’t arrange a time that day. I haven’t sold a single book as a result of those visits, BUT… kids! I love their curiosity and willingness to learn. And I feel so happy when they are proud of me for doing something hard. (The book had about 25 rewrites, one exciting, accepting “editor’s call,” which came with a rejection one year later because one seller convinced the group that “no one buys historical fiction.” And now the book’s in print, and on Kindle.)  How well children know the joy of a success. The book and launch and school visits have been a wonderfully wild train ride so far, and a good distraction. I have one more station stop at a school today before I focus on flying off. Literally.

2) The really sad news concerns our son who lives alone, 2,000 miles away. Last fall, the surgeon successfully removed the cancer from his body. During the past four months he went for doctor check-ups with a big A-OK each time. Then, on the Thursday of my first school visit, we received a call from him.  In the month since his last visit, the cancer had come back with a vengeance and had spread throughout his body. Yesterday, he started his first round of chemotherapy, with the port not working, and then poking an IV in one arm, and  not working, so poking his other arm. Today he’s in for 11 hours so the doctors can do tests and fix the port before he does his next round of chemo. Rough start for his poison treatments.

But God’s timing is always right. Our son is in his 20′s, so doctors have given his expected recovery rate a high success. Although he is far from family, he has many friends, and many who work in school districts. In his area, Spring Breaks are at different times, so at least in this first month or so, he will always have friends willing and available to drive him to and from the hospital, and even stay and sit with him. I will fly down at the end of this week to be with him.

And, personally, if we would have gotten his news any earlier, I would have said, “The heck with my stupid book! Family means everything!” I would have dropped my writing project, and there would have been no book launch nor any school visits until who knows when.

So be it trains, planes, or emotional roller-coaster rides, what remains sure is that I know who I am and whose I am. I am certain, beyond any doubt, that God’s timing is always right.