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So if you’ve been following me at all, you know I’m working on a book (or three or six or…). And you also know that it’s going slowly. This is due to more than a couple of factors, the biggest of which are (a) my short attention span and propensity for new ideas to arise just as the existing ones are getting interesting, and (b) my inability to keep Butt in Chair (thanks Tracy!!) long enough to actually finish writing a complete book/story (for reasons why see (a) above).
I’ve set a goal for 2012 of actually finishing something (teehee) and being able to submit it to publishers and/or, if no one is interested at all even a teensy bit, to self-publish. To do this, I need way more words in book-form than I currently have.
There are two possible solutions to that issue. First, I can write more words. Obviously, that is something I’m going to have to do. I get it, am okay with it, yadda yadda yadda. But second, and this one interests me not just because of its initial slacker-sounding nature but because I tend to like books like this, I can attempt to tie what I have already done into either a coherent narrative or a coherent collection.
I just wrote a book review for LuxuryReading.com about a book that sort of does this second thing. A Thinking Man’s Bully
I don’t know that I can tie my wildly disparate themed, genred, and styled stuff together in anything remotely that unified. But I’m wondering now if I could maybe take some of the similar pieces and thread them together. It’s still additional writing, and may in fact prove to be more work than creating new things from whole cloth. But I’m a little intrigued at the idea of finding the connections – or inventing some…
I need some input though. So I’m going out on a limb here and asking for direct feedback. What do you think of connected-but-not-necessarily-obviously storylines? What about different perspectives on the same topic/theme/events? What about interconnected short stories – do they just need to be thematic, or do you like it when they include overlapping plots (even if you don’t find that out until the end)? Any thoughts are most appreciated – I need feedback here people!! J
I like different perspectives on the same topic AND interconnected by theme. If you can also interweave some of the same characters (main character in one story could be a peripheral character in another story), I think it would be awesome.
This is probably the most challenging way to write short stories, so maybe it’s not the answer you wanted 🙂
Thanks Amy!! Since, teehee, you are my latest inspiration for getting enough words into good enough shape in the fastest possible time, I’m MOST glad you weighed in… 😉
I think you are spot-on – I think this is going to be a very challenging way to tie things together, but I also think it will produce the most interesting and original (and hopefully entertaining) piece. And since it means you agree with me, it’s also a perfectly great answer. (teehee) I’m going to have to do a fair amount of rethinking and repurposing of what I have to date to accomplish this – but I had to do that at “real” work all the time, teehee, so my brain is fairly well hard-wired to it by now and I’m actually kind of excited to try. I like finding seemingly random connections that turn out to be hugely meaningful/important – it’s like doing puzzles, and those are always a good time to me. (NB: WOW – what a dork I am. Sigh. Thank you for being willing to talk to me anyway!)
Now here’s hoping it proves to work, not just be an interesting exercise…
Hi Jill-Elizabeth – I’m running late (I mean, seriously late), so I’ll have to come back!
(But I’ll ponder this during my morning yoga class.)
🙂
Tracy
Excellent – it’s quite the yoga-ish topic… VERY relaxing. 😉 Looking forward to whatever you can come up with Tracy!!
I’m such a dork today. I came home from yoga, got caught up in client work/email, and then followed several white rabbits around the house (not really), before just seeing a notice that you replied to my comment. *forehead smack* That’s right… I had planned on coming back!
So hi! I’m back! 🙂
Okay, here are my two bucks.
What do you want? No really, what do you want?
I think you have to answer this first before you can do anything solid to put you closer to your goals. If you can’t answer that question with a firm “damn right” in your gut, I think the path is going to be a lot harder – and definitely more frustrating.
Once you can answer that question, you can start working backward from your “goal” to determine what it’s going to take to get there. Notice I said working backward from it. Not starting from the beginning, but the end goal.
I’m going to give you an abbreviated version (I swear on my little pointed head this is the abbreviated version) of my own example of what I want.
Question: What do I really want?
Answer: I want to be a bestselling author of a wildly-popular paranormal mystery series. I want to go into Barnes & Noble and point to my books on their paperback mysteries bookshelves. I want readers to love my stories, care about my characters, and fantasize about visiting the places I’ve created in my books.
Steps, working backward:
21. Publisher says: We love Tracy Brown’s work! We want to publish her manuscript! Here’s a fantabulous contract for her first book.
20. My agent finds the appropriate and best publisher for my book and pitches the ms to the editor.
19. I receive a great offer, I sign a contract with the agent/agency, and they get to work on my behalf.
18. I connect with the best literary agent for me. We “get” each other. My full manuscript is requested. He or she loves it. Someone wants to represent my work! A happy dance follows.
17. I keep querying.. and then…
16. (I work on my new ms – need to keep writing while waiting.)
15. I query agents on the list I’ve developed. (I’m an Excel spreadsheet queen.) I am not swayed by rejection. I move on. I take helpful advice when it’s available and apply it.
14. I decide okay, I’m ready to take it to the pros. Manuscript – check! Query – check! Synopsis if requested – check!
13. Edit anything I need to. BUTT IN CHAIR.
12. I share my ms again with expert beta readers. I read it too.
11. I edit. BUTT IN CHAIR.
10. I attend writing workshops.
9. I edit the query. BUTT IN CHAIR.
8. I edit the synopsis. BUTT IN CHAIR.
7. I edit. BUTT IN CHAIR.
6. I attend critique groups and share my writing, query, synopsis – whatever needs colleague eyes! I read the work of others and (hopefully) help them and learn from them too.
5. I edit. BUTT IN CHAIR.
4. I work on my two-page synopsis of my ENTIRE ms. What? The entire book in two pages? (I’ve been working on this one… um, yeah, it’s hard.)
3. I edit. BUTT IN CHAIR.
2. I practice writing my query for literary agents I’ve determined might be a good fit for my ms.
1. I edit. BUTT IN CHAIR.
Okay, if you’ve read this far, you are a kind person and possibly will be nominated for sainthood. 🙂
But this is what works for a lot of people I’ve met in every kind of “industry” – not just writers. The most important thing is to be clear about what you want. Chrystal clear. Then, you can define the steps.
And eventually, you will get what you want. I believe that.
Let me know if I can be of any help! I’m rooting for you!
HOLY COW Tracy – when you say you’ll get back to me, you REALLY get back to me! (teehe)
Seriously – thank you for all of your thoughts and for taking the time to craft such a lengthy and detailed response. I too ultimately want to be able to march my happy self into a real bookstore and see my real book on the shelf – and I want to have something submitted THIS YEAR to try to make that possible. I honestly don’t care if it’s in the Bestseller section or Staff Picks – I’d probably (warning: inner snob about to be revealed) prefer the latter, because I’d rather (and am more likely to) be viewed as the book of choice of a certain type of reader (i.e., the type that hangs out and works in bookstores) than the latest flavor-of-the-week…
As a secondary goal I’m very open to ebooks – I’ve been reading them a lot more myself and do think that they are the wave of the future for a lot of genres, specifically short stories and shorter novels. The only thing I don’t like about ebooks as a starting gambit is that it likely means self-publishing – and the only thing I don’t like about self-publishing is that it means self-marketing and promoting. Altho from what I’m learning from others (thanks Amy N., my guru on all things lately!!), it seems that you have to do a lot of that with anyone but the HUGE publishers anyway, so I may not be able to avoid it…
Thanks again for your thoughts – don’t worry, I’m SURE I will ask for help. (teehee) And thank you for rooting for me – you know I’m doing the same for you!
It really is all about butt-in-chair, eh? 😉 I get that. And as we’ve discussed, that’s the hardest part for me.
I like the idea of interconnected short stories with overlapping plots as long as each of the stories can also stand alone. Obviously, this view is based on stuff I have read. Perhaps you will work it differently? In any case, I wish you a lot of luck with it.
Thanks Che – that is my plan, and shouldn’t be too difficult, as the stories ARE free-standing currently. I’m trying to thread them together into something publishable, and have been thinking that it might be better to have them somewhat interconnected rather than just independent stories for purposes of luring someone into wanting to publish them… 🙂 Thanks for your input – and the luck!
I’ve been reading a lot of collections lately and what I have learned is that the ones that tie together, somehow, are infinitely more interesting than the ones that don’t. One of the books I enjoyed the most lately actually tied the stories together with the title phrase. So every story had that phrase in it, explored in different ways. Kind of cool. Good luck with this!
Thanks Dana – it’s how I feel about reading stories too. I like the title-as-tie-in thing – what was the book?? I do enjoy when there is a completely random connection that pulls things magically together – a character, phrase, location, item, whatever… Thanks for the luck – I will definitely need it – and I hope one of these days your loyal-reader/commenter-ness will result in my being able to show you a full book!! 🙂
Creating tie-ins work in all aspects of marketing. Think of all the films made into books and books made into films. It would definitely work for you and your writing. It might just require more planning on your part to actually connect the stories, and leave your readers wanting for more.
If you also want to write more, think about entering NaNoWriMo. In case you don’t know, it’s a competition challenging you to write 50,000 words in a month. More to the point it allows you to create a good draft, with a deadline to keep you going and stop you editing as you go. The actual competition is in November, but they also hold two sessions of Camp NaNo in July and August I think. These are a good way to get writing I find.
If you get stuck with book marketing, let me know. I know a few tricks 😉
Thanks Astrid! I actually do know about NaNoWriMo – this year would have been extremely tough tho, as I got married/honeymooned in October, fall is busy season with the kids’ sports/school, and we bought a house/moved the first week of December, so I needed my November… and from what I understand, NaNoWriMo basically takes over your life! 🙂 I’d like to try it tho – maybe summer would be a good way…
And THANK YOU for the marketing tricks offer – I have to confess that is the part of the whole writing/publishing process I am looking forward to the very least! So I will definitely take you up on that one!!
I hope you’ll check back in to watch my progress – and continue to give helpful hints and encouragement! Thanks for visiting/commenting… Talk to you soon (hopefully), when I am at the point that I can hit you up for tricks/advice! 😉
Well congrats on the wedding!
I actually had a marketing idea you might want to work into your writing. If you’re writing a series of short stories, you could always write a few more then offer them as bonuses to people who sign up to receive your newsletter, or go on Facebook and Like your page.
Hope this helps!
Thanks Astrid – I actually had another writer suggest a similar concept. And every suggestion/marketing tip helps, so thank you!