Hi, I’m a romance author with my debut ready to go out sometime this year. However, the date has been pushed back because of my bad grammar. My publisher wants me to fix certain things such as “wandering body parts”.
She gave me examples such as:

I would write “She tossed her chin over her shoulder”

Would the right way be: “She jerked her head around”?

 Another example:  “Her fingers raked through the hair on his chest” when I should say it as “She ran her fingers through the hair on his chest”. I love to write but always had a weakness with grammar. I’d be happy to get the help and if there’s a site or guideline you know I can go to, or if you can answer this, let me know.

I’m also real bad with sex scenes. I try to describe a position or action and it wouldn’t make sense to some people. I wonder if there’s a site that offers pointers in writing these sex scenes.

I appreciate your time and looking forward to hearing from you.

 Sincerely,

 Nona Sebastian

 Hi, Nona,

Thanks for the question, and congratulations on your sale.  The problem of wandering body parts is a common one, so common, in fact, that my friends and I used to trade egregious examples like little boys with baseball cards.  Some particular favorites from my old file:

Her eyes flew across the room.  (Did they sprout wings when they sprung loose from the sockets?)

His feet raced down the hill.  (I always wondered which foot won that race.)

Her ass beat time with the drums.  (I don’t even want to know how her ass held the drumsticks.)

In my experience, the source of the problem is usually the verb.  By that I mean that the action being ascribed to the body part is not one that can logically occur.

Let’s take a look at your first sample sentence.

“She tossed her chin over her shoulder”

When we think of someone tossing something, the motion usually involves using the hands to propel an object away from the body.  In this case, your sentence implies that she has somehow detached her chin from her face and thrown it over her shoulder.  We know this can’t be correct.

There is a secondary meaning with this verb, one that comes up in phrases such as, “She tossed her hair over her shoulder,” or, “She tossed her head.”  In both cases, the verb is describing a motion of the head rather than a motion with the hands. The problem with using the verb in this sense with the direct object chin is that the chin is not separate from the head.  She cannot toss her chin without tossing her entire head.

The cure for this problem is careful editing and attention to the nuances of verbs.  Whenever you name a body part in a sentence, identify the verb describing any action or motion of that body part.  Can this body part actually act in this way?  If the answer is yes, then you should be fine.  But don’t be too quick to answer yes.  Open your dictionary and check it.  Compare the definition in your dictionary to definitions in online dictionaries or to other words listed in the thesaurus.  This process will often reveal subtle shades of meaning that might make you question whether you actually have the right verb.

The second step is to question whether just one part of the body performs the action or whether it’s the entire person.  For example, in our sentence,

His feet raced down the hill

his feet don’t race by themselves.  His entire body is moving.  He might be noticing how quickly his feet are moving in his haste to get to the bottom, but his feet don’t cross the finish line while his arms and legs are still in the starting gate.

My guess is that you’re experiencing a similar problem in the sex scenes.  Sex scenes are loaded with body parts doing all sorts of inventive things.  Edit carefully to make sure that the verbs describe an action which is physically possible.  For me, personally, I have no problem with the sentence,

“Her fingers raked through the hair on his chest”

because in all of my dictionaries (and I checked three), a secondary meaning for rake was to scratch, which is something that fingers can easily do. And it’s just the fingers (not the whole body) performing the act of raking. (Your editor might object to this sentence for other reasons, though, and the only way to find out what she means is to ask her directly.)

It does become easier with practice, and before long, nobody’s body parts will wander in unexpected ways.

Got a question for the editor? Email it to askaneditor at romanceuniversity dot org.

* * *

Theresa, thanks for the lesson on flying body parts.  Thank you also to Nona for sending in her letter.

Join us on Monday when author Christi Barth joins us to talk about small publishers. 

Theresa’s Bio:  

Theresa Stevens is the Publisher of STAR Guides Publishing, a nonfiction publishing company with the mission to help writers write better books. After earning degrees in creative writing and law, she worked as a literary attorney agent for a boutique firm in Indianapolis where she represented a range of fiction and nonfiction authors. After a nine-year hiatus from the publishing industry to practice law, Theresa worked as chief executive editor for a highly acclaimed small romance press, and her articles on writing and editing have appeared in numerous publications for writers. Visit her blog at http://edittorrent.blogspot.com/ where she and her co-blogger share their knowledge and hardly ever argue about punctuation.

Good morning and welcome to Crafting Your Career. Writer Sally Bayless joins us for another installment of her publishing journey. Today, she shares with us how she discovered her lack of writing discipline and what she did to refocus on her writing. As we all know, discovering you have a “problem” can sometimes be half the battle. My hat’s off to Sally for discovering this issue at this stage, because discipline is so important to a writer’s success.

Here’s Sally!

During the past two months, I discovered a disturbing fact about my writing life. If this were a real job, I’d have been fired by now.

When I first thought about writing a novel, a dear friend who was a sculptor told me repeatedly to “treat it like a job.” And when I started writing in January 2009, I did. I outlined my story, made a PERT chart with each chapter as a task, and steadily worked toward my projected finish date, coming in a couple days early.

Then I began revising. And that’s where my job performance went downhill. I looked like a good little worker bee. I showed up—sitting for hours and hours at the computer. The thing about a real job, though, at least the ones I’ve had that paid enough to afford luxuries like Nordstrom shoe missions, is that you actually have to produce something.

Part of the problem—the part I’m giving myself a pass for—is that I’ve had, as my husband puts it, a rather steep learning curve. If there’s a basic writing error you can make, I committed it—in every chapter. So, for the past fourteen months, I’ve been revising, learning, and revising again. I’m now working my way through the book, implementing a major fix for some ugly plot problems. Once that’s done, I’ll need to polish, polish, polish, and then it’s time to query. But to be honest, what I’ve accomplished in revisions shouldn’t have taken fourteen months. And here’s where I’ll admit the rest of the problem: lack of discipline.

Every time I came to a point where I needed to think, I’d decide to check my e-mail instead. I’d work ten minutes, spend fifteen on e-mail, pop over to Facebook, then notice the laundry piled on the bed behind me, fold it, snag a fingernail and need to file it, then see that the rest of my nails looked twice as long and file all of them, then go hunt for a snack. I’d come back to my desk and see the FedEx truck driving up the street. In our tiny town, going shopping means Wal-Mart, so the FedEx man comes to our neighborhood every day. If I wasn’t running downstairs to meet him at the door, I’d start thinking of that new pair of shoes I’d been looking at. And then I’d have to zip over to Zappos and call my best shoe pal to discuss color choices. My friends here in town had assured me they wouldn’t call when I was supposed to be writing, so I called them. Whew! Clearly, this was not the work ethic of a model employee.

The longer this went on, the worse it got, especially when I tried to deal with a nasty quagmire in my plot. The less I concentrated, the more frustrating revisions became, and the more frustrating they got, the more time I wasted. I’d like to say I recognized this while it was happening, but no, it was only when the plot problem was solved and I made a nifty new PERT chart that I saw how long I’d been revising my WIP.

It may sound hypocritical, because I’m writing this in a blog, but a big chunk of my problem was the Internet. Now the online connections I’ve made have been invaluable to my growth as a writer. I’ve found a wealth of educational resources, encouragement, and friendship through Romance University, amazing critique partners, and writing organizations—all of it online. But remember the healthy food pyramid, with the big section of whole grains? Well, I think, even if you don’t have a real deadline, the healthy writing pyramid has to have similar big section of actual writing. Mine had become a bit skewed. Kind of like those days (rare, very rare, I promise) when my meals are mostly Chipotle and Ding Dongs. I was using my time online, the laundry, the summer sandal collection, anything I could find, to avoid problems with my book that I didn’t know how to fix.

With Ding Dongs (and sadly, with crunchy Cheetos as well), the bottom line is that I just can’t buy them, can’t allow them in the house, much to the disappointment of my family. If they’re there, I will eat them. And if distractions are available, I will play. So, based on my experiences with the beloved Hostess product, I’ve made a change. Previously, my desk was along one wall in the master bedroom. Now I’ve taken over the guest room, which is not wired for Internet, declared it my new office, and told my techno-savvy husband and 14-year-old son that I do not want a wireless Internet connection for my desktop computer. (Note that if you plan on visiting me, the nice queen-sized bed is gone. Guests will be offered an extra-long twin, probably piled with books, or kindly routed to the hotel down the hill.) My new routine is to return my e-mail, read blogs, etc., for no longer than an hour on my laptop in the kitchen while I return to consciousness in the morning. Then I turn off the laptop and “go to work” in the new office, one with no laundry to fold, no view of the street, no connection to the outside world, real or online.

There were some initial difficulties. For instance, I had an e-vite saved in e-mail on my desktop that I couldn’t figure out how to access. (I’m sure my husband or son could have moved that e-mail, but they’d already moved the, um, not-so-light desk, and I thought it best not to ask.) And now I have to do critiques on my laptop or transfer them back and forth to my desktop. I really like to work with the big screen of the desktop, so neither option is quite as easy as my previous setup. But I’m hoping my increased productivity on my own book will more than make up for this.

I can’t give definitive results yet. We’ve been traveling a lot since the big desk move, so I’ve only had a few days to try things out. But when we’ve been in town, I’ve accomplished my goals and then some. Of course, this new set-up will mean I spend less time shoe shopping during my work time, but hey, if Van Gogh can cut off an ear for his art, I can forgo a couple pairs of shoes.

So what about you? Is “Discipline” your middle name? Or do you have your own strategies for staying focused as a writer?

* * *

Thanks, Sally!!

RU Crew, let’s talk writing discipline and strategies for staying focused! Share with us your success (and not so successful) stories.

Join us on Monday when author Christi Barth shares her thoughts on small publishers.

Sally’s Bio:

Sally Bayless is learning to write inspirational romantic suspense and cozy mysteries. Before realizing that ordinary people were allowed to write fiction, she edited corporate publications and technical reports. In January 2010, she was a finalist in the first contest she entered, SVRWA’s Gotcha. A member of ACFW, RWA, MWA, and several online groups, Sally lives in rural Ohio with her husband and two children.

Good morning and welcome to Anatomy of the Male Mind! I’m excited to introduce you to Sarah C., a young adult reader and fan of the Twilight series. As an avid reader of the genre, Sarah’s consumed hundreds of YA books in her score of years, especially the paranormal sub-genre. Today, Sarah’s going to give us the scoop on why masses of young readers (and not so young) are “crazy” for the Twilight Saga. Specifically, obsessed over Edward and Jacob. It is guy-day, after all.

Sarah will stop by later this afternoon to answer your questions.

The class is yours, Sarah!

Many adults have been hearing about the crazy obsession that seems to have consumed the teenage/young adult world; the Twilight Saga. T-shirts, posters, buttons, mugs, bumper stickers…in a “gimmie-more,” capitalistic society the Twilight series has whipped up a frenzy that is as intoxicating as it is profitable. Most adults are questioning why their children, grandchildren, nieces, etc…, have become so fixated with this series. Having been fifteen when the first book was released, I have a pretty good hold on why the masses are becoming so consumed with everything Twilight. Atfifteen, with hormones raging and such a limited scope of what the “real world” is like, teenage girls’ thoughts are overrun by boys, dating, and love. So when a book comes out that has somehow successfully married all of these ideas and then proceeds to add a hot werewolf and a sexy vampire into the mix, you can bet money that it’s going to be the next BIG thing. On the surface, you might be wondering what is so appealing about a dead guy who sucks blood and a feverish wolf boy with a bad temper.

Let’s go Team Edward for a moment. Edward is a 17 year old boy who has been the same age since 1918. His life began in a time where women were meant to be treasured and cared for. Consider how well he would treat you, being from the early 1900s and having completely different standards and morals than say a 17 year old boy born in 1990. In 1918, a man wooed a woman, courted her, and showered her with affection and gifts. Fast forward to 2010 and I can barely get my boyfriend to remember to put the toilet seat down. Despite the way relationships function now-a-days, the idea of a chivalrous gentleman who will open doors, write you musical lullabies and save you from danger still makes women’s hearts go pitter patter. Perhaps the most romantic thing Edward has going for him is that while he has spent the past 100 years of existence as a vampire, never before has he found anyone he wanted to be with for eternity until he met Bella. Furthermore, he is willing to risk the torture of his insatiable desire for her blood – he goes against his very nature, his own carnal instinct, to continue to love her. What teenage girl wouldn’t want to be “the one”?

Team Jacob is not to be out done though. His most appealing quality is that of his happy and outgoing personality. He has fun with life–enjoys every second of every day, because he has a sense of aging. Another of Jacob’s most valuable traits is that although he turns into a wolf sometimes, he’s also human. He is a living, breathing, being. He can relate to Bella on being a confused growing teenager because he’s actually getting older. Although Jacob is only 16 and hasn’t been around for 100 years, his maturity level is sky high. He knows he wants Bella and loves her so he’s going to do everything he can to be with her. Even if that means being there for her while she’s pining over another guy. In the series, Bella and Jacob develop a very strong bond and become the best of friends. In our real life relationships we all look for a lover and a best friend in one, which is why so many people think that Jacob is the right choice for Bella. He, like Edward, is willing to do whatever it takes to keep Bella safe from harm. With his inhuman strength and speed, protecting her comes easy to him. Bella means the world to him and he won’t let anything or anyone get in the way of his love for her.

The battle of who is better for Bella will continue until the Twilight hype decreases, so Team Edward and Team Jacob are here to stay. The fans of both the novels and movies have their own opinions about who is better than who but the main points are clear on both sides. If you appreciate a cultured, world traveler, who shimmers in the sun, Edward is your man. If you long for strolls under the full moon, puppy dog eyes, and a warm, kind-hearted heart throb, Jacob is your man.

If you’re smart, like Bella, you’ll let both of these men fight over you!

* * *

Thanks, Sarah!!

RU Crew, which are you–Team Jacob or Team Edward? Inquiring minds want to know. Well, I do ’cause I’m just nosey, er, inquisitive that way.

Curious about paranormal? Wondering what it takes to succeed as a writer in this ever-popular sub-genre? Then stop by on Friday to hear what authors Angie Fox and Erin Kellison and Dorchester’s editorial director Leah Hultenschmidt have to say!

Urban Fantasy author C.J. Redwine is back for another installment of our ever-popular Query Writing 101.  This month, C.J. has chosen a letter from Jennie Bryant . Thanks to C.J. and Jennie! Readers, feel free to post questions for C.J.

Dear Ms. Agent or Editor:

Before I dive into the query itself, I’m going to address the length. This clocks in at just over a page and a half. You have one page MAX. You’re going to need to do some serious tightening to whip this into shape. You need one paragraph setting up Sarah’s character, situation, and goals. One doing the same for Max. One revealing the stakes of the story and what the two must choose/do/overcome and the consequences for failure. And one very streamlined paragraph delivering the mss title, genre, wordcount, any writing credentials you have, and one pithy sentence explaining why you’re querying this agency. (If you want to. That is totally optional.) I’m going to help you cut, cut, cut. Ready? Deep breath. Here we go.
 
Thank you for accepting my manuscript sample and giving me a shot at my dream, to become a published writer. It’s a dream that captured me when I picked up my first romance novel many years ago. (All of this can go. They know it’s your dream or you wouldn’t be querying. Use the space for hooking them on your story.) Your agency represents many great, reputable and diverse works that I admire.I think you will enjoy my book, Love and Honor, a contemporary romance between a divorced mom whose life and love faces continuous threats from her past, and the honorable Air Force pilot who struggles to protect her by her side and from abroad. The manuscript is complete at 90,000 words. We can totally streamline this. For example: “LOVE AND HONOR is a contemporary romance complete at 90,000 words. I admire many of the books you represent and feel my novel would be a good fit for your list. Thank you for your time.” I suggest you move this to the end of your query and hook them on your story first. Also, admiring many of the books on their list is a pretty vague reason to query. I’d either mention something specific about the agent, or mention a couple of books that are within your genre that they represent, or leave that part out and slide your writing credentials into that space instead.

So many women dare to fall in love with the man of their dreams, only to have that dream shatter into a nightmare of physical and mental abuse. This whole paragraph needs to go. We don’t care about so many women. We care about Sarah. Let us know in her paragraph that she’s fought hard to survive and be successful in the aftermath of an abusive marriage and that will be good enough.

Sarah is one of the survivors. A thirty-three year old divorcee, she has fought for and found success in the aftermath of her own nightmare. And that success has let her build a new home and a new future for her and her daughter in the small town of Lexington, Michigan for nearly five years. However, her nightmarish past has
left her in a shell, quiet, insecure. And while single life has seemingly suited her just fine, her heart lives in a fantasy world where the “knight in shining armor” still exists. Love the last sentence. I think you can streamline the rest and make it flow better. I’d suggest you carefully read aloud your paragraphs and listen for when your punctuation choices aren’t quite giving you the rhythm you want, or when your sentences feel a bit awkward. Here’s a streamlined version of your own words:

Sarah is a survivor. At thirty-three, she’s fought for and found success in the aftermath of life with an abusive husband. Now, all she wants is to build a new future for herself and her daughter in the small town of Lexington, Michigan. Her nightmarish past, however, has left formerly confident Sarah huddled in a shell of insecurity. She pretends single life suits her just fine, but her heart lives in a fantasy world where her knight in shining armor still exists.

Use what works. Toss the rest. J

Max is a devastatingly handsome man. Of course he is. This is a romance novel. J We don’t care that he’s handsome. We care what kind of man he is. I’d avoid this cliché and give us a connection with him as a person instead.  He has(He’s … using contractions gives you a more contemporary sounding voice.) made a career out of serving his country as an Air Force fighter pilot, learning the old school ideals of hard work, chivalry, integrity, and honor along the way. That old fashioned manliness (Manliness feels like the wrong word to me. Sounds very physical, appearance/strength driven etc. That may be just me.)  blends well with a penchant for charm, wit and romance. It is (It’s) a miracle he hasn’t been caught sooner. Actually, instead of the “it’s a miracle he hasn’t been caught sooner,” let’s do a quick sentence putting him and Sarah together and causing Max to unexpectedly fall head over heels. Then your last paragraph can cover the threat to Sarah, and their response.

Call it fate, clumsiness, or just dumb luck, Sarah’s and Max’s paths keep crossing. Sometimes they cross in an hour of need. Other times they cross in the most peculiar and humorous of ways. Whichever the case, there is a magic drawing these two together that neither can deny. But like all magic, there will always be those who try to ruin the trick. Just do one sentence at the end of the previous paragraph putting these two together and having them fall in love. You don’t need the rest of this.

Sarah’s ex husband Jeff is a man of power and prestige. In his mind, the divorce from Sarah was nothing more than legality. Sarah is still his and always will be. So when Max enters the picture, Jeff reminds Sarah who she belongs to in a terrible way. The jealousy becomes even more dark and sinister when Jeff teams with Max’s divisive sister, Amber, in a fight for family inheritance. What should have been a picture perfect love story has turned into a battle to keep the love alive.  This needs some pruning too. I’d suggest one sentence about Max and Sarah barely beginning their journey towards true love when Sarah’s possessive ex attacks her. Then continue with something like “Jeff isn’t the only one who’ll stop at nothing to cause this relationship to fail.” And finish with something like “With their picture perfect love story turned into a battle to keep love alive, will Max and Sarah defeat those who threaten them and prove once and for all that true love conquers all?” Or whatever actually works for you.

I am a active member of Romance Writers of America and Dallas Area Romance Authors. I have written for a local area website called Today on The Bay,as (missing a space after that comma) an art and entertainment reporter.  I’d use this in place of the “I’m querying you because you rep diverse books” stuff.

I’d be glade (glad) to send you my complete manuscript for your review. Thank you for your time and consideration and I look forward to hearing from you. No need to say you’d be glad to send your mss. She knows. J Save the space and just thank her for her time.

Sincerely,

Jennie Bryant

***

Jennie, thank you again for allowing us to use your letter. Let us know how these suggestions work for you.  We’d love to hear from you. 

For our readers, if you have a letter you would like C.J. to critique, go to our Labs page and click the link or send your letter in the body of your email to QueryWriting101@romanceuniversity.org.   C.J. will also take questions if you would like to send them.  We will post a letter on the first Monday of each month so be sure to check back.

Join us on Wednesday for Anatomy of the Male Mind.

C.J.’s Bio:

C.J. Redwine writes urban fantasy with a side of comic relief and is repped by Holly Root of the Waxman Literary Agency. She also teaches a monthly online query workshop where she offers unlimited critiques of each writer’s query until it’s perfect. She has just a few spaces left in her July Query Workshop. To learn more, go to http://queryworkshop.blogspot.com.

Good morning and welcome Chaos Theory of Writing! Today, I’m excited to introduce supernatural thriller author Alexandra Sokoloff to the RU Crew. I first heard of Alex through a friend who used her Screenwriting Tricks for Authors blog to help her learn how to plot. Then I saw Alex’s latest novel Book of Shadows featured on the International Thriller Writers web site. And the clincher, the moment I knew I had to invite Alex to blog with us, was after listening to an RWA workshop on the paranormal sub-genre, featuring Alex and bestselling novelist Heather Graham. It became very clear to me why I was seeing and hearing Alex’s name here, there, and everywhere. She knows her stuff. It’s that simple.

Leave a comment for your chance to win a copy of The Harrowing or Alex’s newest release Book of Shadows. Thank you, Alex, for your generosity!

It’s time for me to let the expert takeover. Welcome to RU, Alex!

When Tracey asked me to guest lecture here at RU, the question she lobbed at me was “How have you successfully distinguished yourself in a genre dominated by men?”   (By which she meant – horror).

Hah.

I can tell you exactly.   I have never, ever forgotten that the most interesting authors in this genre have ALWAYS been women.

Don’t get me wrong.   I am the most avid fan of Stephen King, Ira Levin, Sheridan LeFanu, Richard Matheson, Ramsey Campbell, Peter Straub, Dan Simmons, Thomas Harris, Bram Stoker, Shakespeare – and the grandfathers of horror, the Greek tragedians (ever read or see Medea?   Yike.).

But ever since I was – well, way too young to be reading this kind of thing – I have loved Shirley Jackson, Mary Shelley, Daphne DuMaurier, the Bronte sisters, Anne Rice, and the lesser known but absolutely revolutionary Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who in The Yellow Wallpaper turned post-partum depression into a descent into hell that I personally may never recover from.

There are advantages and drawbacks to being – “special”.   When there are so few women writing what  do, I tend to stand out.   On the other hand, a male-dominated genre tends to have more of its share of not exactly female friendly critics and reviewers (recently a prominent dark genre magazine editor came under fire for running an article on 34 horror writers and directors – that had not one single interview with or mention of a female author or director).

But let’s face it – women have a lot to say about horror. We live with violence on a much more intimate and everyday level than most men do. A walk out to the parking lot from the grocery store can on any given night turn into a nightmare which a woman may not survive, or from which she will never fully recover.

I think security expert and author Gavin DeBecker (who wrote the must-read The Gift of Fear) got it exactly right when he said, “A man’s greatest fear about a woman is that she’ll laugh at him. A woman’s greatest fear about a man is that he’ll kill her.”

Women know what it’s like to be prisoners in their own homes, what it’s like to be enslaved, to be stalked, to be prostituted, what it’s like to be ultimately powerless. And they know everything there is to know about rage, even when it’s so deeply buried they don’t know that’s what it is they’re feeling.

(Actually the mystery to me is why more women AREN’T writing horror.)

So it’s that truth that I try to tap into when I write:  my outrage at the truly evil things that happen in the world… and my absolute belief that human beings have the capacity to fight and overcome evil.

Now, I don’t consider myself an out-and-out horror writer.  What I think I write is supernatural thrillers.    Well, kind of.   Maybe supernatural mysteries.    Or paranormal mysteries?

Oh all right, I admit it – I have a genre identity problem.  Depending on which bookstore or library you walk into, I’m shelved in horror, mystery/thriller, fiction and literature.  I go to mystery, thriller, romance, horror, and even sci-fi/fantasy conferences, and have avid readers at each.   Add to that the fact that as a screenwriter I would work on projects that could start out as adventure thrillers and end up as musicals, through that special process Hollywood calls “development”; and add to THAT my own personality disorder – I mean, chameleon nature – and the fact that my own publisher is careful not to call what I do “horror”…  yes, I’m a bit confused.

And I admit it – it’s hard, when paranormal and urban fantasy are SO huge, not to want to just jump on the bandwagon.  After all, I write about the paranormal, and about the erotic, and my books attract a lot of paranormal fans… it’s not that much of a stretch…   so tempting…

But the truth is,  I’m not a big fan of the wisecracking kick-ass heroine.   I would so, so much rather an author get serious and scare me, especially in a psychological way.    And I love a life-affirming ending, but I’d rather have honest ambiguity than a blanket Happily Ever After.

I can’t tell you how often I’ve asked my agent if I should just write a straight thriller for the next book, and he always says, “No, it’s going to take some time, but you’re doing something that almost nobody else is doing, and people will find you.”

Well,  people have found me, and I keep getting book deals and royalty checks, and I am starting to understand that my agent is right – not many people at all are writing this kind of thing, and people are paying attention.   I’ve been reviewed by the New York Times, nominated for Anthony (mystery), Bram Stoker (horror), and Black Quill (horror) awards and am the first and only woman so far to win an International Thriller Writers Thriller Award.

And I know from the letters I get that a lot of readers read me because I really do scare them, in a nail-biting, hair-raising kind of way -  I just don’t do any of that in-your-face stuff.   I won’t even read a book or see a movie that has torture or rape in it, so you know I don’t write it (I do write about characters who have been sexually abused, but that’s not something I’ll ever show).

The sensual thrill of the unknown…   the chilly feeling of something unfathomable behind the door…  that’s what I’m after.

So I’ve learned that I have to be true to myself and write what I most love to read – the same kind of thing that terrific writers like Tana French, Mo Hayder, Sarah Langan, Sara Gran, Elizabeth Hand, Sarah Pinborough, and Rhodi Hawk are writing.   What it is, is feminist horror.  Or since the Right has somehow insidiously twisted “feminism” into as dirty a word as “politically correct” – even just “feminine horror.”

That’s what galvanized me about Shelley, Jackson, DuMaurier and Gilman when I discovered them, growing up. Not just that they told ripping good scary stories, dripping with perverse sexuality and unnerving psychological insight, but that those stories were from an unmistakably and unrelentingly female point of view. About oppression and patriarchy and a kind of madness, but prophetic madness, that comes with always being the Other.

It might not be mainstream, but it’s the truth, as I see it – and live it.   And writing is just too hard to try to write against your own nature.

I’m lucky enough to be a full-time writer, writing what I love.   And that – is no small thing, these days.

So how about you?   Do you ever walk on the dark side in your reading and/or writing?    Or have you ever hesitated about writing something you were drawn to write because you thought, or someone told you, it wouldn’t sell?

Let’s talk about it!

- Alex

* * *

Thanks, Alex!

RU Crew, be sure to answer Alex’s question for a chance to win a copy of The Harrowing or her newest release Book of Shadows.

Be sure to visit again on Monday when urban fantasy writer C.J. Redwine critiques another reader’s query letter.

Alex’s Bio:

As a screenwriter, Alexandra Sokoloff has sold original mystery and thriller scripts and written novel adaptations for numerous Hollywood studios.  Her debut ghost story, THE HARROWING, was nominated for both a Bram Stoker award (horror) and Anthony award (mystery) for Best First Novel.   Her second supernatural thriller, THE PRICE, was called some of the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre by the New York Times Book Review, and her short story, The Edge of Seventeen, won the International Thriller Writers’ Thriller award for Best Short Fiction.

Alex’s third spooky thriller, THE UNSEEN, is based on real-life experiments conducted at the Rhine parapsychology lab on the Duke University campus, and her new release, BOOK OF SHADOWS, teams a cynical Boston cop and a beautiful, mysterious witch from Salem in a race to solve a Satanic killing.

Alex is also the author of SCREENWRITING TRICKS FOR AUTHORS, based on her internationally acclaimed workshops and blog. For more information about Alex, visit her web site http://alexandrasokoloff.com.

Good morning and welcome to Chaos Theory of Writing! Today, our dear friend Laurie Schnebly Campbell joins us to discuss the hero’s arc via the personality ladder. Laurie has a lot of ground to cover, so I’m going to “button it” and hand the class over to the professional. BUT first, I want to mention that Laurie’s generously giving away one free registration to her personality ladder class. All you have to do is leave a comment!

Laurie, welcome back to RU!

DAYS OF THE WEEK, DWARVES AND STAGES OF CHARACTER

There’s something magical about seven.

Seven wonders of the world. Sailing the seven seas. Seven deadly sins. The seventh-inning stretch. Seventh heaven. The seven stages of man. And the seven steps on the personality ladder.

What, yet ANOTHER way of charting our hero’s progress through the plot and character arc of a book?

Haven’t we got enough of those already? The 36 basic plots. The nine personality types. The four quarters of a synopsis. The 12 stages along the hero’s journey. The seven habits of highly –

– Oops, we’re back to seven.

There’s just something ABOUT that number! In fact, maybe that’s why the personality ladder has seven steps.

In real life, of course, we’re all climbing ladders all the time. From infancy to childhood; from childhood to adulthood; from irresponsible student to responsible worker; from carefree party-goer to committed spouse…life is full of ladders.

But the ladder our book characters climb isn’t a lifelong one — it lasts only from Chapter One through The End. Maybe that’s a five-day period of thrilling adventure; maybe it’s a two-year saga of blooming love…but regardless of length, it’s a ladder they climb from bottom to top during the course of the book.

We know they start at the bottom because, when the book begins, they haven’t yet needed to face the big challenge they’ll face by the end. They’ve probably had their share of struggle and growth and change during the backstory, before Chapter One ever started, but as we open the book they’re only beginning the journey that’ll occupy the next 250 (or however-many) pages.

During that journey, we want our characters to face something that’ll take some WORK for them to rise above.

And no matter what they face on an exterior level — a bank robbery, a pirate raid, being jilted at the altar — the biggest challenge is going to be interior. That’s where the real excitement takes place — not in how they handle the bank robbery (well, unless you’re writing a police procedural) but in how they grow & learn & change in order to become a stronger and better person by the end of the book.

So that’s why we care about the seven steps along the personality ladder.

Of course, not every character MAKES it all the way to the top. Villains, especially, get stuck on the fifth step…which is why they’re villains.

And even with those characters who go through all seven stages, some have a more dramatic climb than others. Have you noticed that in books of your own, or books by other writers?

Not every character achieves the same amount of triumphant growth from beginning to end.

Which is okay. Even in a romance, where we want the hero & heroine to be well matched, one might go through a whole lot more turmoil and challenge than the other.

EVERY character, main and supporting, has their own ladder to climb. Some of them, like the wise mentor or grandparents, have completed their climb before the book ever begins — their only job now is to offer sage advice.

Others reach the top of one ladder in THIS book, but we know that the next book in the series will have them climbing a whole new (and equally thrilling) ladder.

Some struggle with every stage of the journey, some soar through the first five steps and then get flummoxed by the sixth, and some proceed so steadily we don’t immediately realize what they’ve overcome along the way. All of those people can be fabulous characters, each climbing their own personality ladder.

Which is the topic of my August class, and which is what I’d like YOUR thoughts on.

In fact, I’d like to quote you in the class — because it turns out people love quotes from real-life readers and writers! — so be sure and let me know if that’s NOT okay.

My question for you: which character in your current book (the one you’re reading or writing) is going through the most dramatic journey? And do you like that character better than the rest?

No right or wrong answer…I’m just interested in characters going through those steps on their personality ladder. So I’d love to know who stands out in your mind when you think of people making a climb!

Laurie, with free registration to “His Personality Ladder” at

http://www.writeruniv.com/august_10_Laurie.htm

for someone who sends a comment (I’ll do a random-number drawing tomorrow)

* * *

RU Crew, now it’s your turn. Laurie will stop by to answer your questions.

Be sure to stop back on Monday for our spotlight on the medical romance sub-genre. Author Janice Lynn and Harlequin Mills & Boon Assistant Editor Lucy Gilmour will be here to share their thoughts.

Laurie’s Bio:

Laurie Schnebly Campbell (http://www.BookLaurie.com) created the Personality Ladder workshop after people from her psychology, fatal flaws and enneagrams classes requested more information on using ALL those techniques for building great characters. She’s introducing this expanded course in August at WriterUniv.com, and looking forward to meeting some great new heroes…as well as some she’s enjoyed before!

Good morning and welcome to Crafting Your Career. Today, chapter-mate Haley Hughes is going to enlighten us on how Facebook can work best for writers. Haley’s been helping members of our RWA chapter setup their profiles and pages for months, so she knows her FB business. Feel free to ask questions. Haley will pop in a few times to offer assistance.

Haley, the class is yours!

Social media is ever evolving. Once you think you figure it out, things change. The change might be as simple as a tweak in how a feature works, or it could be a shift in what platform is hot. A few years ago it was all about blogging and MySpace. Now it’s Twitter and Facebook.

The nice thing, though, is once you “get” it, once you understand one social media platform, the basic terminology and concepts translate pretty easily.

I’m an old Generation X’er. Social media didn’t exist for me in high school or college. Most of what I have learned about it has been though trial and error without benefit of friends to walk me though it.

To me, social media is fun. To some of my friends and writing colleagues, it’s scary and a waste of time. And we all know how precious time is.

What is the value in social media, specifically Facebook, for writers?

Three things come instantly to mind: cost, connection and community.

Cost: Facebook is free to use. And it is a great companion marketing tool for your website, allowing you, the author, to get quick and timely news to your readers without having to pay your website administrator for changes to your site.

Connection: Your readers have to make a conscious decision to visit your web page. And even if they do it once, they may never return again. If you can get them to connect with you on Facebook, every time you update your status, it will stream to their News Feed.

Community: Your interaction with readers on Facebook is more conversational, giving them a great glimpse into what goes into creating your work. And when that book is released, they might feel more personally vested in it and be more likely to recommend it to others.

Last September, Deb Pfeiffer wrote an introduction to Facebook and gave great advice on how to register and create your personal profile.

Many writers might feel content using their personal profile for all their Facebook needs. I would argue that you should go the next step and create an Official Page (aka Fan Page) for yourself.

Why create an Official Page on Facebook instead of using your personal profile to promote your writing?

Your personal profile is meant to be personal. You probably have family and non-writing friends on Facebook with whom you’d like to keep in touch. Having an Official Page helps you separate people you know from people you don’t personally know and limit how much personal information you’re potentially exposing to strangers.

You want to make it easy on your readers. On personal profiles, you become “friends” with people, and that “friend” status creates a  two-way relationship. On an Official Page, a person chooses to “Like” the page, which creates a one-way relationship. Many readers would feel it’s too presumptuous to ask a writer to be their friend, but wouldn’t hesitate to “Like” her and subscribe to her Official Page.

Your fans are interested in news about your writing career. That’s why they became fans on Facebook. They hope to get rewarded with news about what’s happening with your writing. If you have a Official Page, when you post career-related news, you don’t have to be afraid of inundating family and personal friends with too much self-promotion.

Official Pages look and act a lot like your profile page, so navigating one doesn’t require much extra knowledge.

Official Page status updates stream to fans’ Home Pages, just like updates from their personal friends. It’s hard to tell the difference when viewing your Home Page.

Official Page administrators aren’t public. You can administer a Official Page without revealing who you are or your personal profile information.

You can have multiple administrators for a Official Page. This way, you can have someone else silently help you run your Official Page and build community.

How do I create an Official Page?

If you’re looking at an existing Official Page, you’ll see a link to “Create a Page” in the lower left column of the page. If you’re on your Home Page, you’ll see a link for “Ads and Pages” in the left column, which should give you the option to “Create Page”.

Once you’re on the page titled “Create a Page”, fill out the information and click the button to “Create Official Page”.

Voila! Your page is created. Now you need to personalize it, which is very similar to personalizing your profile. You can add photos, write status updates and share links.

Notice that anything you do while you’re on this page is published in the persona of the page. If you called the page “Romance Writer”, then if you post a link to the page’s wall, it looks like a Facebook user named “Romance Writer” wrote on your wall. This is true of anyone with administrator status on the page. You cannot accidentally write on the page as your real identity.

Remember, Official Pages are public, so anything you do write will be viewable by anyone on the internet, unless that page is “unpublished”, which means it will only be visible to page administrators.

(NOTE: Under your profile photo you’ll see a link to “Edit Page”. This link gives you more fine-detailed control over the appearance of the page.)

My page is created, now what?

Now you should be ready to promote your page to your friends. In the left column is a link to “Suggest to Friends”. You can use this option to send an invitation to any and all of your Facebook friends to become fans of the page.

You can also use the “Share” option in the lower left column of the page to post a link to the page to your personal profile.

How often you post to your Official Page is up to you, but once a day is a good place to start.

Try brainstorming several status update ideas at one time, then parcel them gradually. This should make your Facebook time more organized and distract less from the important stuff, your writing.

Remember to respond to any comments or wall posts. In my experience, it takes comments to get comments. A statistic I’ve seen thrown around is that for every bit of self promotion you do, you should have 10 other interactions with people.

I hope this collection of my knowledge about Official Pages for writers is helpful. I’m curious to hear about your experiences, both good and bad, with using Facebook as a writer. What makes your Official Pages work? And what frustrations have you run into?

* * *

Thanks, Haley!

RU Crew, now it’s your turn.  Ask away.

Stop by tomorrow for Laurie London’s third lecture in our Debut Author’s Journey series chronicling her nail-biting moments before hearing the word “Sold!”

Haley’s Bio:

Haley Hughes likes the paranormal, time-travel and a well-crafted alpha male. While her new role as a stay-at-home mom to an active 10-month-old son has put a temporary damper on her romance writing, she has found that Facebook remains a vital link to the outside world. While she has helped several writer friends create Official Pages, she hasn’t published her own Official Page yet. You can find her at haleyhughes.com and haleyhughes.blogspot.com.

This month, we’re answering a question from the FAQ files. This one comes up once every month or two, and it goes something like this:

My agent asked me for an outline of my next book. Is this different from a synopsis?

The answer is yes and no and maybe, depending on the how the person meant it. I know, that clears it up, right? So let’s look at how these terms are commonly meant.

An outline generally is:

1. A chapter-by-chapter capsule summary of a nonfiction book.

2. Think of it like an enhanced table of contents.

3. The purpose of an outline is to summarize the information which will appear in the finished book.

4. Its format will include chapter numbers, chapter titles and/or headings, and a point-by-point breakdown of topics covered in each chapter.

5. When we evaluate outlines, we’re checking whether the topic is meaty enough to fill enough chapters for a whole book.

6. We’re also checking whether the core thesis is thoroughly developed.

7. We’re also looking at things like organization of ideas, the way the chapters build upon each other, and so on.

Many nonfiction books are sold on an outline plus some configuration of sample pages, such as an introduction and sample chapter. We evaluate the sample pages for writing quality. We evaluate the outline for content. There will be other relevant questions, too, such as whether the author has a platform and how broad that platform might be, which might be addressed in the outline, cover letter, sample chapters, or pitch, but ought to be addressed somewhere. (“Platform” is an author’s established presence as an authority on a topic. It’s the professor of economics who writes a book about money management, or the personal trainer with a blog that takes 100,000 hits a month who writes about fitness.)

A synopsis generally is:

1. A narrative summary of a work of fiction or narrative nonfiction.

2. Think of it like enhanced jacket copy which relates the beginning, middle, and end of the story.

3. You will use your synopsis to introduce your main characters, establish the themes, and describe the events in the plot.

4. The synopsis might mirror the flow of events in the plot in a chapter-by-chapter manner, but it will still be presented in narrative format.

5. A synopsis rarely uses headers and similar material, except that some formats have separate paragraphs to introduce characters. In that case, those paragraphs are sometimes headed “Characters,” and the plot summary is headed “Plot.” But these formats are less common than ordinary narrative formats.

6. When we evaluate a synopsis, we’re checking that the plot is interesting and coherent.

7. We’re also checking whether the characters are interesting, but that might be easier to determine from sample pages. The synopsis will at least give us a starting point, though.

8. We might also be checking for other things like writing quality and tone, but the sample pages usually will be more useful for that purpose.

Many novels, memoirs, and other narrative works are sold on a synopsis plus some configuration of sample pages (generally the first seventy-five to one hundred pages or thereabouts). The purpose of a synopsis is to give a flavor of the tone and characters, the complete but condensed plot, and perhaps some thematic or other elements.

The kicker is that many people use these terms interchangeably. Or maybe they’re so used to asking for one that they use that one term without realizing they want the other document. Or maybe they’ll assume you know which format they actually want. In other words, even though there’s a technical difference between an outline and a synopsis, there’s a bit of looseness in the way we use the terms.

So what’s a writer to do?

If this is someone you’ve got an established relationship with, just ask them which they would prefer. “Do you want a chapter-by-chapter outline or a narrative synopsis?” See how easy that is?

If this is an over-the-transom submission and asking might be awkward, you can either check their submission guidelines for clarification, or you can assume that a narrative work takes a narrative synopsis. That assumption is probably safe, but there may be rare cases when it’s not. So if you’re uncomfortable with this assumption and the submission guidelines are silent, you might have to find a graceful way to ask for clarification. “Sorry to trouble you. I checked your guidelines and couldn’t find the answer. Do you want a narrative synopsis or a chapter outline?”

So now that we know the difference between a synopsis and an outline, do you have any questions about formats?

Theresa

Got a question for the editor? Email it to askaneditor at romanceuniversity dot org.

* * *

Theresa, thanks for the clarification about these two important writing tools!

Join us on Monday when writer and Facebook guru Haley Hughes provides an in-depth look at how writers can make FB work for them.

Theresa’s Bio:  

Theresa Stevens is the Publisher of STAR Guides Publishing, a nonfiction publishing company with the mission to help writers write better books. After earning degrees in creative writing and law, she worked as a literary attorney agent for a boutique firm in Indianapolis where she represented a range of fiction and nonfiction authors. After a nine-year hiatus from the publishing industry to practice law, Theresa worked as chief executive editor for a highly acclaimed small romance press, and her articles on writing and editing have appeared in numerous publications for writers. Visit her blog at http://edittorrent.blogspot.com/ where she and her co-blogger share their knowledge and hardly ever argue about punctuation.

Welcome to Anatomy of the Male Mind! Our guest today is Australian writer John Warwick Arden. John has spent the last four months with us exploring the topic of love. Are men capable of it? John’s journey with RU ends today. Let’s see what he decided.

Good day, John!

It has been some journey- from my first instalment on whether I am ‘capable of love’ or not- to this final chapter.

In that time, I have devoted most of my allotted space to the reasons why I even ask this question- if you will, the back story.

I could even be accused of using my past as an excuse for being incapable of love, but everyone knows that is garbage.

We all have a choice in life as to who we want to be; the past trauma is an excuse, certainly, but by no means a justification for failure to behave in a giving, loving way.

I have ruminated on the definition of love to a great degree, and have failed in defining it to my satisfaction.

Another thing I have failed to do is be truthful.

In my desire to not only make a firm stand on the question at hand- that I am in fact ‘incapable of love’ (almost as if I had this conclusion firmly in mind right from the start- more out of affectation than in deference to my beloved friend ‘truth’)- it seems clear that I have been lining up all sorts of evidence to back up this foregone conclusion; everything from my upbringing, my socialisation, even my own sense of what it is to be a man- which in the popular idiom, would support a departure from any kind of loving conduct.

But what I have failed to do most spectacularly of all, is face the core truth not only on my position with regard to my ability or otherwise to love, but the actual reason for this confusion.

For a variety of reasons- partly in my pursuit of what seems more to be a good story than anything like the truth, I have completely omitted my own treatment at the hands of women.

In my desire to be a better man- and in an accompanying desire to accept whole heartedly the notion that women hold the key to my redemption- I had, in a bizarre revisionism of history, committed the crime of putting women on a pedestal.

Gripping tightly like a drowning swimmer to the notion that I am ‘bad’, most ‘men are bad’, and hence largely incapable of love, I seem to have fallen into the common trap amongst men desirous of some kind of healing and reconciliation with themselves and the opposite sex, of idolising women to the point of canonisation- and in the process avoiding the truth with even more audacity than when I claimed to be beyond reproach.

In my zest to idolise women to such a degree that it be almost surreal, I had forgotten the number of times I have been hurt, and abandoned by women.

It took the recent incursion into my life of an old flame- one who left me ten years ago without explanation- to remind me that I had been hurt.

And hurt many times.

And that that hurt had turned me into something unloving.

And over the years, the ways in which I had been hurt, brought me to a place where I found myself almost subconsciously taking my revenge out on women for the way they had treated me.

Not pleasant, but then neither are lies.

Neither is the place I find myself now, labouring under the mythology that ‘men are to blame’, and women pure and beyond reproach.

Persuasive mythology, yes; popular, yes. A good way to pick up women, yes.

Anything but the truth.

My cold heart, and my inability to love, was due to something much more significant than my upbringing.

I survived an abusive childhood- so have many- and I like them still wanted to love, and be loved.

I was then, for many years, lost in a wilderness for a variety of reasons, and infuriatingly through no fault of my own, hurt and abandoned by women in my life.

No reason.

I wanted to find reasons.

The human being needs reasons.

I wanted to believe it was my fault, as this was the prevailing most convincing mythology, given my oppressive up bringing and my education in the Catholic Church, where guilt is an industry- but none of this had any basis in fact.

The fact remains, this poor fortune was not able to be explained away by anything as convenient as a neat reason, but I did it anyway.

Rather than accepting that people just simply hurt others, I had to fit it into a more convincing mythos- that it was all my fault, and I was a bastard.

Mainly because this mythos helped me preserve my masculine integrity.

Over time, in response to my poor fortune with women, I began to harden myself, and take my revenge by being unloving.

This was not only a disservice to them, but to me.

What strikes me as odd is not that I transformed this way, but that I effectively rewrote history, in order to suggest that women are in fact unblemished.

That men- I- are the bastards, and this needs to change.

Why did I do this?

Was it some attempt to preserve my dignity- not let it out how hurt I had become by women, or had allowed them to hurt me- this ensuring the perpetuating of the prevailing myth, that only women can hurt men?

Funny how one can be trapped to such a degree for such a length of time, until one is no longer certain of what is true.

Am I capable of love??

I have no idea.

The question is, does it matter? Does anyone really care?

Given the criticism I have endured since I began this process of self examination from both sexes, I can only assume it does matter- even if it only be a means of other people promoting their own agenda, one way or the other.

Even yesterday, I had a snide comment from a woman in response to one of my regular postings which have become a habit, in my quest to live a life worth living- an examined one. So I can only assume my development does matter- whether the response is negative or positive.

For there are positive responses, too; given the enormous support I have also been afforded by both sexes, I can again only assume that this matters still.

I think truth matters; and somehow, my own quest to peel back the layers of preferred mythology and self delusion to get at the core truth, has pricked the curiosity of others.

Perhaps they too are on a similar quest.

Why it matters is not for me to say- only those people both sides of the fence could answer such a question- and any reason I might have would only be speculation.

It is enough to ask whether I can love, without exploring the theoretical reasons for doing so.

Or perhaps one cannot seek the answer to one without also answering the other.

Who would know?

But for now, I have to believe that it matters; that this matters.

This quest for not only love, but the definitive answer to whether I can or not love.

It is as good a quest as any; and it affords my life some meaning.

I am reminded of the words spoken by Blair Brown to Ed Harris in a film I watched yesterday afternoon while taking a break from writing this piece; she said to him,

“You know…one thing I’ve learned, is that you have to believe it all makes sense somehow, otherwise you hate everything, and everybody.”

Let me just say this; I might not know love, or if I am capable of it, but I do NOT want to hate, ever again.

Hate kills.

And I DO NOT want to sit on the fence; that is worse than hating.

Which means, I must want to love.

So for me, it matters.

Right now, it matters.

If that is the case, then I will need to find the real me.

I need to continue to peel back the mythology, layer by layer, built up over time to protect me from the slings and arrows of broken relationships and hearts torn asunder, in order to find the real me.

And that cannot be done in one blog.

Or even a series of blogs.

I began this series as a means of answering the question as to whether we are capable of love or not.

And I commenced the series- and followed it through- with all the aplomb of a writer who has all the answers, and a tidy ending.

The fact is, I discarded the original ending, and inserted this one instead.

Trouble is, I am not certain it does not pose more questions than answers for me at this point.

But that is my problem, not yours.

The one virtue being, in this whole process, that this instalment feels closer to the truth than any other.

How do I know that?

Because it hurts.

I had the mythology conveniently wrapped up; that I had been a bastard in my life, because my father was a bastard. And hence, I am incapable of love.

I am still left with the question of whether I can love or not, but also the revelation that I had been hiding the real reasons all this time.

I had been lying to myself.

To you.

Still after all this time.

And I have no idea I am even doing it.

Can I love?

Good question.

The real question is, can I handle the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

It seems to me, unless I can answer this more urgent, pressing question, then I can never hope to answer any others.

***

Thanks, John!

RU Students, what did you learn from John’s journey? How would you define love?

Be sure to stop back by tomorrow for Jeannie Ruesch’s special lecture on web site content for the newly pubbed.

John’s Bio:

John’s been a farmer, librarian, and a police officer for ten years with a Chief Commissioner’s commendation for community service. He’s currently a writer with one film credit, and one in production. John’s working on a series of three books on the masculine perspective of love, truth, relationships, etc. He loves literature, film, art, music, animals and has not given up hope that people will one day work it all out…

Good morning and welcome to a special edition of Anatomy of the Male Mind! We’re veering from man-speak to hear what author Karin Harlow (and her agent!) has to say about literary agents.

Read on for Harlow’s Guide to Literary Agents.

All Agents Are Not Created Equal

Neither are all doctors, lawyers or Joe the Plummers.  In every profession, there are the slugs, the duds, the hot shots and the go-to people.  In every profession, there are lazies, liars, cheats and those who are just kind of dozing happily in the sunshine, not a care in the world. Then there are those who are honest, knowledgeable, hungry and Johnny-on-the-spot. Literary agents are no different.

Just because I love my agent, does not mean you will.  And while the agent author relationship is one based on business and we must always remember that for the match to work, I believe there has to be simpatico.

I cannot urge you enough not to enter into a publishing contract without the expertise of an agent.  Publishers will ask for everything, they are, after all, in business.  There are so many clauses, and the language can be ambiguous to one who isn’t versed in legalese.  Just because it’s written in a contract does not mean it cannot be negotiated down or out.  And you have the right to negotiate.  This is YOUR career.  Do not give it away.  And please, don’t ask your real estate agent or your friend who is an attorney to look over your contract and give their seal of approval.  At the very least, if you cannot find an agent you’re comfortable with, please do yourself a huge favor and call literary agent and contract attorney Elaine English.  For something like 300-400 bucks, she will review the contract and she will advise.

All agents are not created equal.  Some will lay down and roll over, some will fight tooth an nail. Some will get you some things but not all things. Not that the best agent in the world can get you everything, there are deal breakers.  Some agents are wimpy and will encourage their authors to speak on their own behalf to their editor about things not pertaining to the actual story.  I have a problem with this.  While I won’t tell you her exact verbiage, when I signed with my agent, she boiled it right down to, “You be the artist and worry about the book, let me be the beotch and I’ll deal with everything else.”  And so it is.

There are small boutique agencies and there are the big high-profile agencies.  There are the agencies that are just a one man or one woman show.  There are pros and cons for each.

I personally like a big agency behind me.  My agency has agents who a handle all sub rights.  These include but are not limited to foreign, audio, Hollywood, etc.  They have a legal department and a marketing department. The agent’s assistants are not agent wannabes, they are employed solely to assist the agents.

I think going with a junior agent at a prominent agency is not a bad thing.  I think going with an established agent with a good track record who branches out on their own is a good thing. I think someone who has limited experience and decides to throw up a shingle is not a good thing.  Buyer beware.  Listen to your gut. It’s never wrong

Many agents bundle submit. This is where they package a bunch of work and send it off to an editor.  And it usually sits.  There are such things as agent slush piles.  Frankly, I don’t care to be grouped with a bunch of other authors in a package and sit.  I want my agent to have the clout to make a phone call that will be taken, chat me up, then follow up the conversation with the work for a quick read.  But not all agencies are created equal.  Not all agents have the ears of the editors.

This is why it is imperative to do your homework before you query.  I had an author ask me the other day how I liked my agent because she had offered representation. Not the time to be asking questions. Ask your questions before you submit!  Why blindly cast your net out there?  What happens if you get an eel, are you going to take the eel up on their offer for representation because they offered?  Or are you going to toss that sucker back into the water and keep fishing for what you came for?

There is one hard and fast rule that I should have mentioned first and foremost:  Money flows from the publisher through the agent to the author (and, yes, split accounting is not uncommon, but some agents get offended if you ask for it.  IMHO that’s their problem. The publisher would rather not, more bookkeeping for them, but they do it, providing it’s all set up at contract time.  Not after.). Money does not flow from the author to the agent. Never pay your agent for editing, reading, book doctoring.  If an agent refers you to the aforementioned (book doctor or pay to edit) hang up the phone, and get an unlisted number! With the exception of your agent’s industry standard of 15% domestic sales and 20% foreign, there should be no exchange of money from you to them. Some agencies charge authors for postage and misc office expenses.  I have a problem with that too.  To me that is their cost of doing business that should come out of the 15% you pay them, not your cost of business on top of their agency fee.  However, many would beg to differ.  If this is the case with an agent you have queried and done your homework on and whom you really want to represent you, fine, set an annual amount, in writing, which should not exceed a couple of hundred bucks, and have the agent reimburse you when she sells your ms.  Many would beg to differ there as well.  I’m just putting it out.  For the record, most literary agents do not charge a dime for doing their job until there is a sale at which time they take the appropriate %.

I personally would not agree to more than a 30-day termination with my agent.  Anything longer is preventing you from hooking up with the agent you are replacing the old one with. And be professional.  Send a registered letter at the very least.  Don’t be surprised if your soon-to-be-ex agent blows up on you.  They are human after all, and I have seen some so-called professionals act very unprofessional.  That said, if there is trouble brewing, or concerns looming, and if there is a fixable issue with your agent, communicate your concerns, give him or her the chance to explain/defend and make better.  Don’t be rash.  But, sometimes, just like in life, relationships can and do run their course and its time to move on.  Be professional.  Always.

So, I asked my agent the other day about two houses that I had heard were not accepting paranormal submissions.  Her response paraphrased: “I haven’t heard that House A and B aren’t looking for paranormal, but I haven’t gone out with a new paranormal in a while. I know several agents who have recently sold para’s and I know House A bid on a few of them.”   We both agreed that we thought perhaps people were being told this when the house/s aren’t interested in an actual project. My agent followed up with: “If they read a para and it blew their socks off, they are going to buy it or try and buy it, believe me…”  I believe her.  She went on to say, “Overall, I think publishers are being uber-selective about anything they buy in any genre…I think houses are open to buy anything, any genre as long as it stands out as fabulous.

“Publishers are looking for contemporary stories with romantic themes but also family themes –like a series where each book takes place in a particular community or town or something.” But my agent has good luck selling all genres lately.  She has done contemporary deals, historical deals, romantic suspense deals, paranormal deals, erotic deals and women’s fiction deals in the past six months.  My agent is happy.

What has she had difficulty selling? “’chick-lit-y’ books” – even if she loves them, she feels like she has trouble selling them.

I asked her what her biggest pet peeve was: (lol and this is a conversation we have had many many Many times!)  “My biggest agent pet peeve is that authors choose to believe as fact, things they hear from other authors or from blogs, etc…and often walking away thinking they are somehow getting screwed because they aren’t getting ‘x, y or z’ which they heard someone else is getting… You can’t know someone’s situation unless you are actually in it. There are two sides to every story. Take everything you hear on blogs, etc with a grain of salt.  Writers also need to remember this business is not personal, it’s business.  It’s about numbers.  One author isn’t going to get more than another author just because the publisher or editor ‘likes’ them more than another author.”

What should an author expect from her agent? “Authors need to find an agent they trust and work together with them to grow/build their careers.  Just because an author has past experience in business (not in publishing) does not make them an expert in business.  Agents are a great resource if they are good, authors need to use that… that doesn’t mean an agent is always right, but working together as members of the same team is going to work a whole lot better than alienating people….  And even if an author is upset, it’s nice to try and still treat people with respect…  it’s really upsetting to work really hard on an author’s behalf and get treated without the most basic forms of common courtesy… THAT’S BAD BUSINESS believe me!”

And so there you have it!   Or most of it anyway.  There is a lot I didn’t include today for the sake of not boring you all to tears, but feel free to ask me questions, and if I can’t answer, I’ll ask my trusty agent!

Harlow

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Thanks, Harlow!!

RU Readers, here’s your chance to ask questions about agents from a lady who will give it to you straight. What do you find the most daunting about the agent hunt?

Join CJ Lyons on Friday where she’ll discuss the elements of an effective pitch during our Pitch-O-Rama! CJ will help commenters refine their pitches just in time for Nationals.

Harlow’s Bio:

A full time writer, Karin spins dark tales of suspense, love and things that go bump in the night. Drawing from her life as a cop’s wife, her stories resonate with authority and reality. When Karin isn’t writing, she enjoys traveling the California coast line with her husband and one or more of her four children or getting together in far off places with her writing buddies.

You can find Karin at www.KarinHarlow.com, www.facebook.com/KarinHarlow, www.Twitter.com/KarinHarlow, or contact her her http://karinharlow.com/contact_karin.php .