Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

No-one has ever actually asked me this question. I think because the heroine of my mystery is a counselor in a battered women’s shelter people automatically assume they know where I got my idea.
But you know a novel isn’t just one idea, it’s bunches and bunches from sub-plot to plot, characters to setting. It’s all imagination and as to where it comes from, come closer. Let me tell you a scary secret.
I HAVE no ideas. I don’t outline. I don’t pre-plan. I sit down, close my eyes and start pecking the thing out on the keyboard. My heroine tells the story to me, and I pass it on to the reader.
There! My shameful skeleton in the cupboard is out. Real writers, or so I’m told, get their ideas from experience, or the newspaper or a friend tells them a story and their imagination takes off. Real writers outline and plan.
I’m published. But I’ve never been able to outline. I never know when I start a book whodunnit. Sometimes I don’t know when I start the last chapter. The first book in my mystery series, Safe Beginnings, did come about because a battered women’s shelter here in town burned down as it was being constructed. But no one was in the place and as far as I know it was burned down by kids just messing around. So I sort of know where the germ for the idea for that book came from. But I’ve no clue where the character of the heroine came from or anything else for that matter. At present, I’m writing book five in that series, while book two is just out and I’m peddling book three and editing book four. And I’ve no clue where any of it came from.
So go ahead. Tell me how I’m doing it wrong. You won’t be the first—or probably the last. I don’t have ideas, outlines or an undisclosed plan. I just write.

“The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning, and does not stop until you get into the office.”  -Robert Frost

Whig posted this quote on his blog–and I am trying to trackback but in case it doesn’t work.  http://kvpalumproject.wordpress.com/2008/06/28/just-a-cool-quote/trackback/

I can’t market myself – I’m English!

Marketing. I know I should do it. I know it’s the best way to get my work known. I know the chances are that I will never get discovered, make a fortune, win both the Booker and the Orange prize without it. But the very thought of it makes me cringe….

 

You see, I’m English. Very very English. And here, it’s just not the done thing.

 

Perhaps an author might sneak into a bookshop. They might sidle up to someone and whisper, half-hoping not to be heard ‘That’s my book. You might like it. It’s okay, I guess. I like it. But it’s okay if you don’t. Don’t feel you have to buy it, or anything. Sorry to disturb you’ at which point they run out of the shop, blushing fiercely, and feeling somehow dirty.

 

Marketing, especially aggressive marketing, can backfire, here. It gets our backs up. I have met so many people who refused to read Harry Potter because of what they perceived as ‘aggressive marketing’

 

The funny thing about Harry Potter is- it wasn’t marketed to start off with. It started small. The word about this great book didn’t spread via viral emails, or clever TV ads, or anything else. It was children, telling other children about this great book. And bit by bit, the whispers spread. I was working in a library at the time, and heard the whispers myself. ‘Try this book, it’s great’, kids told each other. Then The Prisoner of Azkaban came out, and, with hardly any marketing at all, it shot straight to the top of the chart.

 

After that, we had the marketing techniques. The toys, the midnight sellings, everything else that Muggles considered ‘intrusive’. But by that point, us Potterites wanted the toys and midnight sales and movies. We’d done the hard work. We’d spread the word ourselves. We’d wanted to be proved right. And we enjoyed all of it, knowing that we were there in the beginning, when the word of a good book was spread by children’s whispers.

 

So yes, us English (and Scottish, and Welsh and Irish) can do the big marketing campaign. But it makes us feel a little dirty. It’s not how we work. It’s not how things are done. We prefer the idea that we can get big just because we’re good. And J.K. Rowling, bless her, showed us that we could.

 

On the other hand, she was the lucky one. I shall have to get over my English reserve, and learn to market myself. And one day, I will. Perhaps. Maybe. I don’t know. After all, I am English!

My Fiddy Percent

[Acquatinance]  “Wow Narelle, you’ve writting a book?  That fantastic.  Well I guess you can cross that off your list of things to do in life.”

[Narelle] “Actually, I think I’ll have to cross it off someone else’s list, it was never on mine.”

What’s my point and what does it have to do with networking? 

I’m gladd you asked. 

I didn’t ask to be a writer.  I didn’t dream about it, spend endless days/months wrestling with writers block or struggle to fit a writing schedule into my busy life.  Nope, all I did was ask for a little bit of guidance back in May 2007.  Then, without warning, I found myself tapping out a novel (and a survival guide and a non-fiction piece and…) and I’ve been writing like a woman on a mission ever since. 

I’m not complaining – I absolutely love writing.  But seeing as how this wasn’t really my idea, I figure that my writing must be part of some kind of big picture.

I’m not a big picture novice so I know that all I have to do is follow the process (which is always the same) and do my 50% (I’m never required to do more than that).

Here’s the big picture process as I see it (and how it works in the case of writing):

• Follow my inspiration (sitt my butt down and write) 15%
• Step out (network and follow leads) 20%
• Say yes (accept offers that resonate with me) 15%

You’ll notice I’ve given stepping out a greater percentage value.  That’s because it’s a crucial step in this simple process.  Of the several big pictures which have unfold in my life, none came as a result of some dude knocking on my front door and asking me if I’d like to participate in my life.

 

Networking

I want to chime in on what Don had to say. I agree with him that networking can be very important.

But when you sign in to those yahoo writing groups that Don talked about, don’t just lurk. Yeah, yeah, I’m shy too. I am hate-to-have-my-picture-taken shy. I am—my-face-is-as-red-as-my-hair-when-I-talk-sometimes shy. Thank God no one can see me online. I’ve learned that if you talk on these groups about what you are there to accomplish, ask questions, and answer the questions you know the answers for, people will get to know you. And so when they hear, for instance that you are a Science Fiction writer with a manuscript to peddle, they will remember when they hear that Baen is opening up a new line. And they’ll hop on the email to tell you.

So having said that I have to say that in terms of promotion after the book is out, I’m not sure about networking. I want to believe. I’ve done chats and I’m not convinced they are effective. I have been in groups where I’ve been turned off by the authors who were BSPing (blatant self promoting). So usually, I keep my promotion to my signature line. Myspace? Hey, I’m new to it but I like myspace—but I like it because I meet neat people. I also like crimespace and goodreads but then they are all about books and mysteries. I don’t sell books in those places. I usually end up buying more. And I’ve seen blogs that were largely ignored and then abandoned.

I think in terms of promotion, networking, at least on the net, may not be working. (Make what you want out of that sentence.) I’d love to have people pop in and tell me I am wrong. Better yet, tell me how it has worked for you.

Writers Need Love Too

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Don Lafferty to the Rule of Three stage.  Don is a writer and networking extraordinaire (our words – not his).  His book – A Field Guide For The Rookie Coach http://rookiecoach.org/ - is due for release in 2009.   Don has agreed to share some of his networking knowledge with us. [insert applause]

We all know the writing life can be a solitary existence. Day after day investing long hours crafting pages of prose or scouring the Internet for research material can make for some long stretches of alone time. And this is absolutely necessary if a writer is going to push through to the finish line, whether your passion is a novel, short story or a magazine article.

The other pursuits of the writing life – self promotion, researching potential markets, agents, publishers and new ideas – can be more effectively served by including a strong networking strategy among the tools you employ to build platform.

There are networking options for every personality.

You can start with a MySpace page focused on your writing career, and by joining all the writing Yahoo Groups you can find. Simply “listening” in these buzzing online groups will open doors to unforeseen possibilities and direct your writer’s mind into uncharted territory, and neither will cost you a penny.

More outgoing souls should seek local writing groups who meet face to face. Visit with a handful of different groups and eventually you’ll find one that’s a good fit for you.

I scored on my very first try.

Several years ago I found myself living that solitary writing lifestyle, but clearly feeling like I needed something more, so I found a local writer’s group through the Web and attended their next open gathering where I met a bunch of people just like me…only different.

For the next three hours I listened to other writers talking about their personal journeys, their process, their frustrations and their accomplishments. This meeting led me to attend a local writer’s conference where I met more writers, editors and agents. I was pumped.

In these few short years I’ve learned more about the writing life, published more and been paid more than in all the previous years combined. I’ve met hundreds of people in the writing world and made some good friends along the way. Not a single day goes by that my writing network doesn’t present me with an opportunity to publish or take me down some unexpected path.

It’s the reason I’m here with you today.

So gather up your best work and jump into the writing world. Be prepared to talk about your writing, take care to keep track of your new connections via email and online social networks, and when you think you have something to offer, don’t be shy. Everything you give to your network will come back to you again and again.

Perfection

I hate being a writer. I don’t just mean I hate the actual physical aspect, sitting down with a pen, or a computer. I don’t mean I hate all the sideshows, agents, publishers, booksellers. I hate the actual fact of being a writer.

Sometimes, I can go days without writing a story. And as I actually earn my living in a shop, and not through this, that’s okay. I’ll stand behind the counter, and serve my customers. I’ll drink with my friend. I’ll sleep with my boyfriend, and no feeling deeper than my skin moves me; My life is calm and regular and will always be like this. Normal. Everyday.

But then it happens. I’ll be serving a customer, or stocking a shelf. My mind will drift away from my task, away from whatever my hands are doing, away from reality, and in a moment, a sudden tearing flash, it’ll come. A moment. A phrase. A sentence. A plot twist. A formation of words so perfect it’ll bring tears to my eyes.

I don’t mean I sit and sob. I’m not a 19th century aesthete, nor a Lakeland poet. I mean I’ll get the little tickle in the bridge of my nose, and a strange twist in my stomach, and tears will slip into my eyes, because for that one brief moment, I’ll have found perfection and I created it.

And then of course, I have to write it. I have to create a story to hold, a paragraph to frame, the perfect sentence. And no matter how hard I try, I cannot match the perfection of the original inspiration. I push and I beg and plead, and I cry and I scream, but I cannot do it as well as I did at that one moment. And I write and write and write and nothing I set down on paper ever matches that original vision, nothing is ever as good as that one brief semi-second of brilliance.

And I read what I wrote, and I hate it. I’m disgusted that I poured such dross onto the page. It’s not what I thought. It’s not what I sensed. What I’ve written down only captures one thousandth of what was in my mind.

But I set it down anyway. And I post it, neatly paperclipped, to somewhere. The first time I did this, I stood in front of the post box, shaking, sick to my stomach, hardly daring to post my work. This isn’t right. I’m just ordinary. I don’t fit into that world. Now, its commonplace. An every day thing. And I know the rejection slip will come back. And I will laugh, and boast I have enough rejection slips to paper my walls. I will read stories of those who tried a thousand times to get published, and were refused time and again, whose novels now earn millions. I will take heart, take stock, and try, one more time, because everyone knows its luck you need, and I will continually push onwards, and still fail, and still smile, while in my heart I’m screaming ‘I put my soul on that paper!’

For the rest of this article, please visit my MySpace page – link on the right. 

Abolishing rejection

At the age of 23, I experienced a traumatic incident.  Many years later, I was aware that I hadn’t really recovered from it and decided to seek help.  I was surprised to discovered that there was a counsellor who specialised in helping people who’d experienced the exact same trauma as me.  Who knew?

Anyhow, at our first meeting, this guy asked me talk him through my experience.  He interrupted me almost immediately to explain that the term I was using to name my experience was toxic, negative and damaging.  He told me that removing that word from my thoughts and conversations about the incident would be the first step in recovering.   While I didn’t give his assertion much credence at the time, I figured he was the expert and that I should give it a try.  Funny thing, he was absolutely right.  Not only that, the affect was immediate so I never used that term again.

Now I’m not here to teach grandma how to suck eggs (definition), however, considering we’re writers and therefore supposed to be handy with words, why are we using ’rejection’ to describe someone’s response to our work? 

Here’s the Oxford on-line dictionary definition:  “Reject: dismiss as inadequate or faulty.”   Not only is the term unflattering and demoralising, it implies that the work is fatally flawed.  

I think we can do a whole lot better than rejection.

I propose that from this day forth we terminate our involvment with the word rejection and replace it with decline.   Decline: to politely refuse (Oxford on-line) is a more accurate appraisal of the situation and leaves us with enough dignity to continue our quest for publication.

All those in favor say “aye”.

Rejection Would Be Preferable!

For years, we writers have been complaining about the length of time it takes to get any answers in this business. Sometimes it can take years after we send out our first pitch, before someone rejects or buys the manuscript. Like everyone else, I’ve schemed ways around this, sending out multiple pitches or spending all my time trying to find someone to email the manuscript to, hoping to get a quicker turn around.

And every once in a while, it happens. Recently an acquaintance of mine emailed our writing group claiming the award for fastest rejection ever. He had sent out a query and had the rejection in his in-box in a record seven minutes. Not great for his writing ego, but at least he got an answer.

My pet peeve though is a newer trend I’m spotting from U.S. agents and publishers– no answer at all. They might respond to the query, even shoot off an email to say they received the manuscript. And from then on, it seems as though any effort to communicate with them goes into a big black hole in space. Didn’t their mamas teach them any manners?

I’m not the only one noticing. Just this month, one man I know finally did get an answer to a query he sent out in 2005. It was fine with him, the manuscript in question had gone on to be published in 2006 with another house.

Don’t give me the economy as an excuse either. Snail mail queries and manuscripts are routinely sent out accompanied by a self addressed stamped envelope. How long does it take to scrawl, ‘Not right for me’, or ‘I’m not taking on clients at this time’? As for email correspondance, hitting reply and typing in a quick, ‘Sorry’ is even easier.

My plea to these folks is simple: Send me a blistering critique. Return my manuscript with coffee stains and pen scratches. Just scribble No Way! on my query letter. But don’t ignore me. Be more professional than that.

Better yet, buy the darn thing. You know you want to.

Introducing Christine

These kinds of introductions are the literary equivalent of that name tag you wear to a work seminar or your kid’s PTA meeting. You know what I mean, that tiny white square where you have to write your name, your interests or questions, plus your child’s name and grade all in one tiny white space in felt tip pen. And then after you’ve made a mess of the thing in thick, black, permanent marker, they want you to wear it. Because it helps people get to know you. It’s impossible, right?

That’s what this post is. You won’t know me any better after this than you did before but I’m giving it a shot in not-so-thick, black ink. I’m Christine Duncan. I live in Colorado where I write the Kaye Berreano mystery series. The second book in the series, Safe House, just came out in e-format. It’s available at Fictionwise, Mobipocket and other fine places. The first book, Safe Beginnings is available in print at Barnes and Noble.

I’m married, my three children are grown. Okay, the third one is still working on it, but you get the drift. My time is supposed to be my own now. (Who started that myth?) And I want to talk with folks about writing, publishing, promoting (WHY did no-one tell me what a bear that would be!) and just women stuff. My slant on all this is bound to be different than Michelle’s (a young beauty from the U.K.) and Narelle’s (a gorgeous Aussie) so you might hear some disagreement here. Nothing too serious—we’re Rule of Three. Three countries, three women and three different ways of doing things. 

 

Give me an “N”, give me an “A”….

Greetings web dwellers. I’m Narelle Bitunjac (pronounced Bitoonjack). I’m a writer living in Sydney Australia. My writing interests are many and varied. At this stage, I’m in the process of landing an agent for a women’s fiction MS and a ‘little’ non-fiction survival guide that I’ve co-written. My most recent writing venture has been into writing freelance articles. In fact I recently sold an article to an Australian magazine about domestic homicide. My lack of genre specific writing offers something of an insight into my personality which could be described as lively and variable. (Although some may argue that I have adult onset ADD…I disagree of course). Given that planning anything beyond my next meal presents a cerebral challenge, it won’t surprise you to learn that my method of writing is out of the mist [read: fog].

My interests/obsessions (see MySpace page for explanation) aside from writing and to landing a book deal include: tap dancing, listening to music and spending time with loved ones, especially my beautiful, funny and very patient husband.

I’m looking forward to chatting here about all manner of things. The first order of business for me will most likely be a blog about the absurdity of the Sex and the City hysteria which has blanketed Sydney in the past 7 days.