E-Book Readers

I’ve been hearing about Amazon’s Kindle for e-books for a while now, but I haven’t blogged about it because I don’t have the Kindle myself – and, frankly, I’ve never used an e-reader. I’m still stuck in the paper and CD world of books.

So, upfront I’ll say I don’t own the Sony Reader nor the Amazon Kindle. But that won’t stop me from commenting, donchaknow.

I used to be opposed to e-books. I just could not imagine myself reading off a little teeny screen. I do have a Palm Pilot. It’s ancient now, but I still use it for the calendar and address book mostly. It could download books, at least that was one of the feature when I bought it way back in the dark ages. But I never did. Gracious, the screen is only like four inches tall.

Of course, since then companies have worked to make e-readers more of a paper book experience, with bigger screens and the look of a book. The new Amazon Kindle was touted as really close to the real thing.

From what I’ve read, including a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, there are a lot of good things about the Kindle. Books are easy to buy and download. You can load a huge number of books on the Kindle. It’s wireless and you don’t have to be connected to a PC to download books (or blogs and newspapers for that matter). And some even say it gives you the experience of reading a physical book.

But I’ve also heard, and not just from the WSJ article, that the buttons are clunky and frustrating to use.

The real drawback for me is that, although the books are cheaper to download than to buy in a bookstore, the cost of the Kindle is $400. Four hundred dollars! Well, there’s the first big stop sign to my e-book reader buying spree.

I’m not ready to give up paper books, but an e-reader would be nice to take on vacations or plane rides. I would definitely give it a try for that. I might even carry it in my purse for those times I’m stuck in a waiting room. But not for $400. No way.

Save Your Characters from Being Boring

Ever wonder why you don't see characters paying their bills? Because it's boring!

I know that because I do that. I pay the bills. And it's
boring.

Unless paying the bills has something to do with the plot, it's probably best to leave it out. Don't put in boring, mundane tasks just to increase the word count. When you are editing, stop and ask yourself if what the character is doing is interesting, moves the plot forward, establishes the character, or in some way greatly contributes to the manuscript.

If it doesn't meet one of those criteria, seriously think about cutting it. Or try to think of some way the character could pay the bills that would make it more interesting or show his/her character in a unique way.

If your goal is to demonstrate that the character is in reality boring, then come up with a way to show it so that while the task may be mundane, your way of telling it is not.

Part of your editing process should be to cut the boring stuff. If it's really not necessary for the reader to see it, then cut it. That includes a lot of walking from the house to the car. Certainly includes the fifteen times in the book that your character picks up the phone and says, "Hello." Cut out the introductions, get to the meat of the conversation or encounter. Your protagonist doesn't have to feed the cat every time he comes into the house in order for the reader to know he has a cat and he's responsible in the way he cares for it.

Cut the boring so you won't bore your readers.

Make Your Book Notable

The New York Times has posted their list of the 100 Notable Books of 2007. The list will run in their December 2nd issue, but you can read it online now.

Whether you agree with the decisions of the New York Times or not, it’s worth a look. The books are broken down into two categories: Fiction & Poetry and Nonfiction. For writers, the list is a great reference source.

Here is one way you might want to peruse the list:
Start by doing what we all do – run through the list to see if you’ve read any of the choices. Then be happy that you have and agree with their choice, or disappointed because they didn’t list your favorites.

Now, go back through the list and read through the one sentence description. Make note of the ones that catch your attention. Could you describe your book in such a way that it would entice someone else to stop and pay attention? Maybe copy and paste your favorites into a document so you can analyze what caught your eye.

Of those that you noted, click on the title and go see the original review of the book. Could you envision someone writing such a review of your book? Does your book have the depth and layers that would get a reviewer to read it or an agent to look at it? Could you write such a review of your book? Of the top reviews on the list that you read, could you take each and extrapolate enough to create a short synopsis of the book? Try it as an exercise in writing a one-page synopsis of a book, then write a synopsis for your book.

Now, go back and look closely at all of the titles on the list. Which ones intrigue you? Why? Do they give you any ideas for your own titles? Do you like short snappy titles? Longer, more involved titles? Do you prefer the ones that tell you exactly what the book will be about? Or do you like the ones that you know you’ll have to read the book in order to figure them out? What about your own title for your book? Why did you choose it? Do you think it will make a bookstore browser pick it up, buy it?

After reading titles, one sentence write-ups, and the longer reviews of your favorites, narrow your choices down to two or three. Then go read those books.

Doesn’t matter whether you live in New York or not or whether you’ve ever read the New York Times, as a writer, you can use this list to improve your own writing.

Finding Interesting Blogs

Blogs are amazing. If you’ve been visiting blogs, you’ve probably looked at those directly related to the field you work in, like blogs on fiction writing, or developing characters, or nonfiction books, or marketing, or whatever you feel you need to learn about.

Since you’re reading Straight From Hel, I assume you’re interested in writing. I sort of cover all the bases here, from marketing your book, to querying agents, to writing characters, description and more, to writing press releases, to what’s going on in the publishing world, etc.

The more you visit blogs, the more blogs you find that you want to bookmark and revisit. You also find some that are interesting, but perhaps not something you’d go back and visit every day.

I found one of those today. It’s called Get Back in That Room. Doesn’t sound writing related, yet it is. (Besides, who I am to judge a blog by its title, considering mine is called Straight From Hel?) Get Back in That Room is about the writers’ strike. Primarily, it’s an ever-building list of those people behind the scenes who have lost their jobs due to the strike. I’m sure it’s not a comprehensive list, but at the moment it’s at 484 people.

You may not know any of the people listed, but you probably know some or many of the shows they represent, so it’s interesting to scroll down the list.

Keep Focusing on Those Character Details

Last Friday, I did a post on the importance of adding detail to your characters. The post was called It’s in the Details, Folks.

I talked about how your characters’ quirks or traits can set them apart from other characters, making them memorable to the reader. Even minor characters need to have something that makes them special.

When you’re writing, another way to set apart your characters is through things associated with them – their car, their house or apartment, something they treasure. Look around your own home. What makes your living room different from anyone else’s living room? Is it ultra modern? Country? Full of antiques? Is there one thing that you just love – the coffee table, the stuffed bear sitting in the rocking chair, the blanket draped over the chair? Why? Was the coffee table hand made by your grandfather? Did the stuffed bear belong to your daughter? Do you like to snuggle under the blanket while you read? Now think about your main character. What would they have in their living room and why.

What about the house as a whole. What color are the walls? All white? Pale pink? Green? Is each room a different color, some rooms multiple colors? What does that say about that character?

What kind of car do they drive and why? A hybrid? A Hummer? A sedan? A luxury car? Is it new or second hand? Is it so old they hate driving it and they’re in constant fear of it breaking down in traffic? Does that make them avoid getting on the main highway in rush hour? Does it make them take the main roads instead of less traveled roads at night? Does it mean they always keep their cell phone with them? Does their Hummer or giant SUV make them feel powerful, invulnerable?

Does he carry a pack of cigarettes in his pocket, even though he gave up smoking ten years ago? Why? Does she never leave home without her planner, even when she’s not on her way to the office?

When it comes to characters, it’s not just the quirks that set them apart. It’s also the things they carry with them or keep in their lives.

It’s In the Details, Folks

You ever wonder about those authors who are just a tad bit obsessive? The ones who do these detailed character sketches before they ever start writing? Shoot, they'll even write a backstory for secondary or minor characters.

Crazy, aren't they? Yeah, crazy as a fox. Or, as we say around my family reunions, crazy as Aunt Tilly.

It's all in the details, folks.

You can know lots of general stuff about your protagonist: she's a police detective, a vampire, blonde, brown eyes, tall, pale, thin, adopted, smart, sarcastic, ... whatever. But all that is not what makes her memorable to your readers. They like her because she has a callous on her left heel from the lucky penny she keeps in her shoe. That small detail sets her apart from all the other vampire police detectives in books.

Your villain may be a serial killer, a loner, an expert with knives and guns, a martial arts master, with vacant eyes and a psychological wound from childhood that has warped him for life. Well, aren't they just about all like that? What detail makes him unique and memorable? Maybe he always holds his breath when driving past a cemetery. Perhaps he eats his meals one food at a time: never touching the peas until the corn has been finished, never eating the corn until the meat is gone.

Details are important not just for your main characters, but for the smaller story-people, as well. After all, they don't get much *page* time, so there has to be something about them that stands out. It's not fun for the reader to have a character show up that seems to come out of thin air, only to realize that they've seen that person twice before; they just didn't remember her. Or a character walks on scene and the reader thinks, Hmm, I remember the name, but who in the squat is he? And they end up thumbing back through the book, trying to find ol' Johnny.

Readers are attracted to the details about a character. And if you're already thinking about selling movie rights, keep in mind that actors are drawn to the details. You ever hear an actor say that he took a role because he felt it was a character he could sink his teeth in? They're not pulled to play the people that you have to thumb through the book just to identify.

Where do you come up with details to give your characters?

Look in your own life: you, your family, friends, colleagues, associates, the people you see on your way to work or the store, the toe-scratching guy sitting next to you on the plane, the hair-twirler in the car ahead of you at the stoplight. You live in a world of real people, and real people have quirks, idiosyncrasies, unusual features -- details.

Combine details into one character. Maybe your own Aunt Tilly has a sweet, delicate tinkling laugh. Very different from the guy at work who guffaws long and hard, then segues into a snort. Voila. Your character, Esmeralda, has a high-pitched giggle that ends in a deep-throated snort.

Extrapolate. You see a man limping through mall. Why is he walking that way? Does he have a lucky penny in his shoe? Is his hobby walking on burning coals? Is he perpetually late and in his rush to get out of the house, he picked up one of his shoes and one of his son's? Does he have six toes on that foot, or maybe only two?

Make it up. You're fiction writers, right? I've never actually known anyone who kept a penny inside their shoe. But I can imagine that person. I can come up with reasons why she would treasure that penny, why she would always keep it in her left shoe. I can see her massaging her foot at night, debating whether to chunk the coin. I can feel her panic when the penny goes missing.

So, when you're fleshing out your characters, major and minor, don't forget the details. Make them memorable. Like Aunt Tilly's tarantula tattoo she has on her cheek. I didn't even know she had a tattoo, until she appeared at the last reunion wearing a thong. Well, we thought it was a thong until we realized she just had her swim suit on backwards. Dang, I'll never forget that tarantula. Lord knows I've tried.

NaNoWriMo Almost Over

Anybody out there participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo? I'm not sure how many people signed up this year, but in 2006, 79,000 people did. And thirteen thousand of them made it to the 50,000 word mark in one month.

Clearly, 50,000 words in one month means you're not doing a lot of editing. But polish is not the point. Writing is.

If you missed out on signing up at the beginning of November, it's not too late to try your hand at it. Make your own commitment now. See if for the next week, you can write 2,000 words per day. Not outline or do character sketches or edit, but write.

I know one person who's participating. Again. This is not her first year. She has a full-time, high pressure job, yet she's still making the time to write. If she doesn't get her 2,000 words on a particular day, then she makes it up on another day.

Think of it. One month and you have 50,000 words. When you finish, you can pat yourself on the back and put away the manuscript. Or you can continue your push and get it finished to 80,000 words or 100,000 or whatever you want. Or you can begin editing and polishing with the idea of publishing it.

No matter what you do, you can be proud of yourself for trying, whether you did it for a full month or only for the next week.

Two NOTES from Helen:
1. Thank you to everyone who dropped by Straight From Hel, to read the guest post by Susan Wittig Albert.

Susan has written a follow-up about her experience with the blog tour in a post on Blog Book Tours. If you’re a writer and thinking about doing a blog book tour, you’ll find some great information and insight in the post.

2. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Redesigning the Bookstore

Today is sort of a rant day. Read on and let me know if you agree or disagree.

I think bookstores should have comfy chairs to sit in.

I know comfy chairs are sort of a new thing. Used to be, you went into a store, walked the aisles of books, picked out what you wanted, then checked out and went home. And I know some stores, like the tight ones in the mall or at the airport, don’t have room for chairs. But the new big chain bookstores and the older independent stores should have chairs, in my opinion. And not just one or three – those get taken up by chatting teenagers. I’m talking chairs. Ones you can sit in and peruse a book to see if you want to buy it.

Now, you may say the big stores do have chairs. Why, the one close to you has ten chairs. But that’s not always true.

Earlier this week, I went into a brand spanking new mega bookstore and found several things I didn’t like, among them the chairs.

Let me set this up for you. The store has two main doors, on opposite ends of the store. At what is considered the front of the store, there are a few parking spots on the street. At what I would call the back of the store (when you enter here you’re in the music/video section of the store) there is a parking area. Since parking in the front of the store is not terribly easy considering to get there you have to drive through something of a maze, including a driving circle, one-way streets, and pedestrian traffic. So I parked in the back.

I had called ahead and had them hold a cookbook for me.

So I had to walk from the back of the store to the front of the store to pick up the book from behind the checkout counter. This seemed to be another flaw – only one checkout area for a big, two-doored store. Anyway … I got the book, then started walking back as I looked down the aisles on either side for a chair to sit in to look at the book. I was almost to the back of the store before I found four chairs around a small table. Three of them were available. So I sat. It was comfortable – good news. But only four chairs for this huge store? To be honest, there may have been others, but I didn’t see them.

I ended up deciding I didn’t want to buy the book, since I only saw one recipe that really interested me. So I restocked it on the shelf.

Now, if I had wanted to buy it, I would have had to go back to the front of the store and pay for it, then walk through the store to the back to leave. Okay, it’s not the walking that bugs me, just the inconvenience. You know, the little things. Like chairs.

I want chairs scattered throughout the store. Some grouped together, some solo. Comfy chairs. I’d even like a few with tables that you could use as a desk or to put your notebook on to make notes. Now maybe stores are worried that you’d sit and read all day and not buy. Or maybe that you’d copy that one recipe rather than get the whole $40 book.

But I say, if I’d had a table to sit at, I might have pulled out several cookbooks, compared them, and bought one. If I’d had a comfortable chair, I might have gotten several new authors and read the cover blurbs and first pages and bought one or two.

Chairs do encourage reading and a bookstore is not a library. But I say chairs also encourage buying and coming back to the store again and again. Let’s hear it for big comfy chairs!

Authors and the Internet

One of the big topics in today’s world is the Internet and how it affects books and readers. I know I’ve talked about many of the topics here on Straight From Hel – ebooks, rights of authors whose books are downloaded, virtual book tours, the current writers strike, etc.

Today, book promotion via the Internet is pretty much a must. The old way of reading a book review in the newspaper is disappearing. Now reviews are done on the Internet. Authors often attend book club meetings via phone or Internet cameras. Authors use their website to put up discussion guides for their books. They do podcasts. They produce videos to promote their books like movie trailers. They have MySpace pages, YouTube videos. They participate in live Web events. They host contests on their websites or give away prizes or books on their blog tours. They have blogs of their own.

Publishers are creating space for authors to promote their books on the publisher’s website. Some have dedicated websites for reading groups to have live chats with authors.

Whole websites/Internet companies have been created just to help authors promote their books. Take a look at AuthorBuzz, two years old and already selling out its 10 spots for book club promotions three to four months in advance.

For some of us, this whole concept of Internet promotion is scary, over-whelming. There is so much to learn and know and do. On the other hand, the Internet represents the chance for authors to take the reins into their own hands, to guide their own destinies. We now have so much more control over our publishing lives than we have ever had.

For some, the Internet is scary. For others it’s an adventure full of possibilities. No matter how you look at it, it’s a road we now must take.

It’s All About Blogging

Mike French, of the blog The View From Here, tagged me with the meme “It’s All About Me.” My first thought was what the heck is there left to say? I’m not that interesting. I’ve been tagged twice before to tell things about myself. Once by Rebecca Camarena of Chitchat and All That, back on October 2nd. And another time by David Bowles of Writing the Westward Sagas on January 2nd of this year.

Luckily, though, I discovered Mike French’s meme is not so much about me (despite its title). It’s really about blogging. Haven’t done a meme yet about blogging, so here goes:

1. How long have you been blogging?

My blog is sixteen months old and this is my three hundred and forty second post. I’m beginning to get the hang of it, although there is a mountain of stuff I haven’t learned, like marketing and stats. I didn’t even have a stat counter on the blog until last week. I had no idea how many people stopped by Straight From Hel. Now I know. It’s interesting, but, well, guess now I have to learn why that’s important.

2. What inspired you to start a blog and who are your mentors?

For eight years now I’ve produced a free weekly e-newsletter for writers called Doing It Write. Anyone who wants to can sign up and have the newsletter sent to their ebox. I started hearing about blogs and thought I’d give it a try. In 2006, I spoke at the Story Circle Network’s national conference. After my session, I attended another session on Blogging. A friend, Susan Wittig Albert, spoke on the panel. I can’t really say I have a mentor, but Susan would be the closest thing to one. After the panel, she gave me the advice of read, read, read, blogs. She told me to spend several months reading other blogs and deciding if this was what I really wanted to do. Very good advice. Susan was also the one who told me to get a stat counter.

I can’t say there was some huge inspiration for me to start a blog. I just felt I had more to say about writing than I could go in a once-a-week column.

3. Are you trying to make money online, or just doing it for fun?

At the moment, I’m just having fun. Making money would be nice, although that’s another thing I’d have to learn about. Clearly, I need a mentor who can teach me that!

4. What 3 things do you struggle with online?

a) I said that learning is fun, but it’s also difficult and time consuming. Just writing a post takes time. And there’s so much to learn.

b) I know I should get involved in the online communities. Part of why I don’t is that, once again, it takes time. But I know that if you want people to visit your blog, you have to build up an online presence. It’s so easy for the day to slip away, though.

c) I would say I work more from the creative side than the technical side. So what the heck am I doing writing a blog, and maintaining my own website as well as the site for a company I’m involved in called Legends In Our Own Minds? The Legends site is very image heavy. When I started working on it, it was only a few pages. Then I did a complete redesign and it has grown to many pages and hundreds of images. At the moment, I’m having a problem with a new page I put up. The images won’t show. I cannot figure out why. Grr. Seriously. I don’t know why they won’t show. I’m going to try to completely reorganize the entire site. But that’s going to take a looong time to do. Did I mention that I struggle with time? And technology.

5. What 3 things do you love about being online?

a) I love getting to meet people. I’ve made some good friends via Doing It Write, my newsletter. And now I’m meeting others through Straight From Hel. It’s exciting when someone writes to say they’ve gotten an agent or have a book coming out. I love when people comment on the blog.

b) Now that I’m blogging every day, I’m keeping up more on news about writing and publishing. Almost every day I check the news to see what’s happening in the book publishing world. If I didn’t have the blog, I wouldn’t be doing that. So, I figure others aren’t doing it either. I love being able to keep others up on what’s going on. They can drop by Straight From Hel rather than do their own search.

c) I like learning new things. Two years ago, I knew nothing about blogging. Learning can be frustrating, but good. I’ve got a lot more to learn – and that’s fun.

Now, because I clearly have a lot to learn about blogging and being on the Internet, I’m tagging three blogs that I think are great and would probably have a lot to tell us about blogging:

Blog Book Tours – This is a beautiful blog. Very clean, inviting and with lots of pictures and images.

The Writing Nag – Not only does this blog have a great title, it also has the technical stuff down -- Google search, a few ads, and lots of other features.

Ginger Simpson’s Blog – Good Lord, this woman not only does images, she animates them! Plus, her name is Ginger. How could I not like her?

Susan Wittig Albert, New York, and A Meme on Blogging

Happy Friday, everyone. Today is a wrap-up day.

First off, thank you to everyone who dropped by Straight From Hel yesterday to read Susan Wittig Albert’s post on The Narrator and to those who posted comments and questions. I wish everyone who registered for the drawing for a copy of her book, The Tale of Hawthorne House, could win one, because it’s a great book. But there are only three copies to give away, so good luck to everyone who entered. And you can still enter until noon the 18th!

I loved Susan’s post. Such a great explanation of the use of the narrator, complete with examples from her writing.

Another thing of note: In my post on November 14th, I told you about New York’s new tax that could possibly kill affiliate business for e-retailers like Amazon. And, of course, that would eventually trickle down and greatly affect authors selling their books online.

Well, according to the New York Times, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer called a halt to efforts to collect a sales tax on internet sales made through any affiliate in the state. He’s ordered the Department of Tax and Finance to “pull back its interpretation that would require some Internet retailers that do not collect sales tax to do so."

Yea! That’s good news for writers.

And lastly, Mike French has tagged me with a meme called “It’s All About You.” I told him I wasn’t sure I had enough interesting things to say about me, but the good news is that his questions are really about blogging, so I’m looking forward to tackling the subject. I’ll post my answers on Monday. In the meantime, you can go to his blog and see his creative answers. Hint: He’s techie enough to have done a video! You won’t be seeing that from me, so enjoy his!

Guest Post, by Susan Wittig Albert

I’m happy to welcome national bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert as today’s Guest Blogger. Albert, author of more than 36 books, writes both fiction and nonfiction. In addition, she’s mentored many writers and is the founder of Story Circle Network. You can find out more about her at her website, Mystery Partners, and in her two blogs, Lifescapes and Pecan Springs Journal. Her current book, The Tale of Hawthorn House, is the latest in her Cottage Tales series.

Susan is stopping at Straight From Hel on her blog tour to talk with us about The Narrator in stories. I hope you’ll have lots of comments and questions for her. And make sure you sign up for a chance to receive a free copy of her book.

Susan Wittig Albert

The Narrator and the Reviewer

In the August/September 2007 issue of Mystery News, Diana Vickery wrote a review of The Tale of Hawthorn House that made me smile. “Much of the book’s appeal,” she wrote, “was its twinkly third-person narrator. I could imagine her speaking voice—sweet, breathy but firm—and her personality traits: finely honed sense of both propriety and humor. And when she speaks directly to readers, they sit up and take notice.”

Hey, I thought. This reviewer really got it. Because this is very close to the image I have in my own mind of the narrator of these family-friendly mysteries. (I might add “school-marmish” to the list of descriptives.) And I do hope that readers sit up and take notice.

The Narrator’s Voice

In most modern fiction—and especially in mysteries—the narrator is so far offstage that you’re almost never aware of him/her. The chief exception is the first-person narrator. Examples: China Bayles, in my other series; Kinsey Milhone; Sharon McCone. These narrators are in charge of the story, up close and personal. First-person narration aside, however, the narrator in most modern fiction is both invisible and neutral. The story seems to tell itself, without any intervention by a story-teller.

The Narrator in The Cottage Tales

But I wanted to tell the stories of The Cottage Tales in a style reminiscent of the period in which the Tales are set (1905-1913), when the narrator was an important part of the story-telling. Also, I wanted to involve the readers in the story—a good job for a narrator.

For an example from Hawthorn House, let’s take a look at the first page of the Prologue (you can read it here). The story opens when Emily, a servant girl, finds herself alone in Hawthorn House with a crying baby. In the first five paragraphs, the narrator describes Hawthorn House and Emily’s feelings about it. We might be somewhat conscious of the narrator’s voice, but that awareness begins to fade as we’re drawn further into the story, with hints about haunted houses and dead dreams and evicted tenants.

But not for long. In the sixth paragraph, the narrator interrupts the story. A baby is crying and something definitely needs to be done about it. And there you are, dear Reader, your attention redirected by the storyteller. She wants to pull you out of the Hawthorn House backstory and into the story of Emily, who has missed her train to London because of this crying baby. In fact, Emily is letting this poor baby wail while she paces around the kitchen, vexed, frustrated, self-pitying, and self-engrossed. Not a very nice picture, wouldn’t you say?

But just as you are about to make some stern judgments about Emily, the narrator interrupts again (bottom, page 1). She wants you to know some things that might offset this negative impression: “Now, before you think too ill of our Emily, I must tell you…” And in the next paragraph, “But I must also tell you…” and so on, turning over all the complexities of Emily’s situation, until—in a sadly sympathetic way—the narrator has to help us conclude (paragraph 4, page 2) that Emily felt betrayed, “as you would too, I daresay, if you had your heart set on going to London and learnt, at the very last minute, that you could not go.” (I like the “I/you” form of address. I think it’s more engaging. It draws the reader into the story.)

But the fact remains that Emily isn’t very clever at figuring things out and hasn’t a clue what to do with this baby. “No more brains than a ha’penny bun, and wretchedly conceited,” her former employer, Lady Longford, has complained. But while the narrator wants you to know Lady Longford’s opinion, she also wants to qualify it (bottom p. 2): “Of course, we can’t permit Lady Longford to have the last word on Emily…”

Can you see what I’m trying to do here? I want to present Emily from a variety of different points of view, giving her an increasing complexity, making her more real and multi-layered, and raising all kinds of questions. Is Flora her baby, the fruit of a forbidden liaison with that ne’er-do-well gypsy lad who went away to the hops fields and never even sent a postcard? If Emily is Flora’s mother, how could she leave her baby with the Grahams and go off to London, even if she is lured by the promise of a blue velvet dress and blue boots? What kind of mother would do a thing like that? Is she witless and conceited, as Lady Longford claims, or something else? The narrator is both critical and sympathetic, offering both moral judgments and exculpatory explanations. And I hope by the time you’ve finished the prologue, you’re at least a little curious about this conflicted Emily and her ambiguous role in this story.

Throughout Hawthorn House, I use the narrator to present characters and events and comment on them in a chatty, informal way, as if you and she are sitting together discussing the story over a cup of tea and a plate of crumpets. For example, when Miss Potter discovers a basket on her doorstep (p. 37 in the book, if you happen to have it), she thinks someone has left her an eggplant. (I’ll give you a clue: it’s the baby.) But the narrator and you, dear Reader, know more than Miss Potter knows: “Now, you have been reading this story,” the narrator says, “so you know what the basket contains (at least I hope you do!), and who put it there and why.”

I also use the narrator as a stage manager, to move the action from one scene to another. Here’s an example. Jemima Puddle-duck (the star of Beatrix Potter’s children’s book by that name) is a character in Hawthorn House. Jemima is hiding in the barn, sitting on a secret nest of very odd eggs, which are taking an oddly long time to hatch. The narrator finds it necessary to tell us Miss Potter’s tale of Jemima’s near-fatal seduction by the fox, (you do remember The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, don’t you?) remarking at the end: “Now that you have heard the full story, perhaps you can appreciate Jemima’s desire to redeem her reputation. Perhaps you can understand why she was determined to have another go at motherhood…” But it is well past the 28th day, when duck eggs hatch, and Jemima is still sitting. Why? What’s happening here? Whose eggs are these? Where did Jemima get them? What’s going on?

But the narrator refuses to let us ponder. She wants to direct our attention back to Miss Potter and that mysterious basket on the doorstep. “But even though you are quite right to raise these questions,” (she says) “and I very much hope they are answered at some point in the future, we must not anticipate. So let us leave our duck sitting patiently on her nest . . . and open another chapter of our story.”

This is a very long post, and if you’ve managed to read it all the way to the end, I’m delighted. I hope you’re intrigued enough to read the book and discover some of the other ways I’ve used this narrator. I love it, for example, when she remarks (p. 75), “Our Jemima may be a very foolish duck, even (by some standards) a criminal duck. But at bottom, I think we must agree that she is a duck with a very good heart.” Like Emily, Jemima is an ambiguous figure, and the question of what she has done is at the center of the mystery.

But you doubtless have other things to do and you want to get on with them. So I’ll just remind you that we’re having a drawing and that you need to click on this link and enter your name. We’ll be giving away three copies of The Tale of Hawthorn House. You may also be eligible for the grand prize drawing, which will be held at the end of the Cottage Tales Blog Tour.

But you’d better hurry. The drawing for the Straight From Hel Blog closes at noon on November 18!

NY's Taxes Likely to Affect All Authors

If you sell your books through Amazon or some other e-retailer, you’ll want to learn about the memo just issued by New York’s Department of Taxation and Finance. According to yesterday’s Publishers Lunch, it has “effectively killed bookselling "affiliate" relationships for Amazon and any other e-tailers that do not currently have a presence in the state.”

E-tailers don’t have to be based in New York to be subject to this. The tie could be as tentative as an author having a link from his site to Amazon for the purpose of selling his book. As an “associate” of Amazon, the author receives a commission or referral fee for the click through.

The memo gives Internet-based retailers until December 7th to register and begin paying sales tax on all sales of taxable products and services in New York. If they don’t register and comply, they face an assessment of taxes, penalties and interest on all past sales.

The first blog to catch onto this memo was I Can’t Believe It’s Not a Democracy. He was so struck by it that he asked Maud Newton to check into it. Maud has tax experience on the government level. She agreed with “I Can’t Believe It’s Not a Democracy.” You can read her entire post. Here is her conclusion:

… while there will undoubtedly be arguments about what constitutes an agent or representative, and other aspects of the state’s position, I think New York ultimately wins on this.

Does this mean that you, the author, are suddenly going to have to start paying taxes or somehow go back through your records and pay back taxes and penalties? No. New York is going after the e-tailers, not you. But stop and think what this might do to Amazon or any other e-retailer. Then think what it might do to your own book sales.

You can read the memo for yourself. This is something for all authors to keep up with.

Self Publishing: A Cautionary Tale

Today’s Wall Street Journal puts forth a cautionary tale for any author thinking of self-publishing. If you are or have ever considered self-publishing, you should read “Writing the Book on Self-Help: A Publisher’s Cautionary Tale.”

C. Ben Bosah decided to publish his wife’s nonfiction book rather than trying to query agents or New York publishing houses. And along the way he made about every mistake there is. He ordered too many books. He chose the wrong title for the book. Didn’t line up a distributor ahead of publication. Couldn’t get the book into bookstores so even when he got publicity, no one could find the book to buy. Didn’t get cover blurbs.

And now, even though his wife’s book was a finalist for a 2007 Benjamin Franklin Award offered by the Independent Book Publishers Association, his garage is packed with cartons of books.

There are so many resources for writers thinking about self-publishing. If you’re thinking about it, do your research and talk to others who have taken that route. Just about every writer wants to see their work in print. But to avoid long-term anguish and regret, don’t plunge into self-publishing without preparing yourself.

For some people, self-publishing works and is satisfying. I’m not saying never go that route. I am saying prepare yourself for the trip.

How To Find a Small Press

I often get questions like How Do I Find an Agent? I like getting questions and I try to answer them either here on Straight From Hel or in my newsletter, Doing It Write. Recently I heard from someone who wanted to go with a small press and preferred a local one. But she had no idea what presses were based in Texas.

I can tell you where to start your research, because it’s where I start just about all my research on any topic. Google.

If you don’t like Google, use whatever search engine you prefer. I occasionally use Ask.com, but don’t get as targeted or comprehensive results as Google. So Google is where I turn first.

You can search Google with terms like “small press Texas” and you’ll get some results to start you off. Another area to search that you may not have thought of is to search Google News.

For example, this morning, I searched Google News for the term “book publishing.” I came across an article in The Courier of Montgomery County called “College to Host Publishing Festival and Book Fair.” The article lists the university and independent literary presses expected to attend. So, if you’re looking for Texas presses, you would now have a starting list: “Texas A&M Press, Texas Review Press, Arte Publico, Wings Press, Texas Tech University Press, A & M Consortium presses and Mutabolis.”

The story did not have embedded links, so you’ll then have to Google each one to find out more about them, like their location, what they publish, their submission guidelines, etc. I had never heard of “Mutabolis,” so I Googled it. Came up with nothing. Luckily, Google suggested an alternative spelling of “Mutabilis.” So I Googled that and came up with their website. They’re in Houston; they were founded in 2003; they publish poetry.

The ten presses attending the festival are not the only presses in Texas. You can do more research to find others. And you can do this same research to find presses in other states. Here’s a site to get you started on your research: SPAWN, which stands for Small Publishers, Artists, and Writers Network. Based in California, it’s a great site for information on writing, editing and publishing books.

I’m hoping to interview Patricia Fry, the president of SPAWN, soon. So, as part of your research, keep checking Straight From Hel. I know Patricia will have lots of valuable insight for all of us.

Of course, there are other places to search, like in the LMP, Literary MarketPlace. More than likely, though, you don't have that at home and you'll have to go to the library unless you've paid to be a registered online user. But if you want to start your search at home in your chair, start with the Internet.

Happy Researching!

Susan Wittig Albert’s Visit to Straight From Hel

Susan Wittig Albert has set the date when she’ll be stopping by Straight From Hel on her blog tour. Drum roll, please… Next Thursday, the 15th. You can see her entire blog tour schedule online.

Susan is such a great writer. She generously sent me a copy of her latest book in the Cottage Tales series, which centers around Beatrix Potter, called The Tale of Hawthorn House. I’m reading it now. This is the fourth in the series. If you’ve been reading her books, then you know they are unique in voice, setting, characters (and that includes a host of animals), and style.

When I read the first book, The Tale of Hill Top Farm, I knew these books would be different. One thing that makes them special is her use of the narrator. That’s what she’ll be discussing in her blog post for Straight From Hel. So, if you’d like to learn about the role of a narrator in a book, be sure to visit here next Thursday. If you can read The Tale of Hawthorn House before then, that’s great. But if not, don’t worry, she’s going to give examples.

Susan is a national bestselling author. She writes both fiction and nonfiction. If you look at the inside of her book, you’ll see she lists 36 books. Two nonfiction and thirty four fiction spread out over three series. And I know that’s not her complete list.

I first met Susan years ago when she came out with her first nonfiction, Work of Her Own. I still have my copy. It was actually the first booksigning I ever went to. I was scared to ask an author for her signature, but she was so nice and generous that she made it easy.

If you’re jealous that she sent me a copy of The Tale of Hawthorn House, then I’ve got good news for you. She’s going to give away three copies, just for visitors to Straight From Hel. In her post, she’ll tell you how to enter your name in the give-away. I told you she was generous!

So, I hope to see a lot of you stopping by – and posting some comments for her.

The Strike is On

You may be thinking, what the heck does the writers strike have to do with me? It's all those rich screen and TV writers picketing.

First off, they're writers - our cousins, even if we're not scriptwriters. But more important, I feel, is that they're fighting for something that affects us.

Royalties.

Internet royalties. DVD revenues. Residual fees for Internet and cell phone streaming. If you want to relate it to yourself, as a fiction or nonfiction writer, think e-books and Internet downloads.

The writers, represented by the Los Angeles-based Writers Guild of America (WGAW) and the New York-based Writers Guild East (WGAE), aren't asking for millions. They're asking for a few pennies at a time. People pay to download a movie to their cell phone. Why shouldn't writers get a bigger share of that money? What would the movie be without the writer?

When your publisher or big search engine puts your book in their "library" and allows or sells downloads, should you, the writer, be compensated each time its downloaded or copied? Writers live and eat by their royalties.

The strike may go on for some time. Writers will feel the worst of the pain. They're not being paid during the strike for jobs they left to join the picket line. But producers of some prime-time series have worked for months to stockpile episodes in hopes of riding out the strike. Major studios are ready through 2008 to withstand the strike.

Yeah, you and I will be affected through reruns and, heaven forbid, more reality TV instead of late-night comedy. But I say, go for it, cuz.

A Book Mystery

Another thing I thought of to tell you about the Texas Book Festival that took place last weekend, in relation to my events at the Austin Museum of Art, concerns how busy the two days were. When each panel started there was time to lean against a wall and listen. But in-between, I and the volunteers were really busy. There were the usual things to do, like picking up trash, straightening chairs, opening blinds, making sure visitors made their way to the signing table in the foyer, etc. But there was also checking on the authors who were arriving for the next panel. Sometimes they were in the room watching the previous panel. Most often they had arrived during the panel and a volunteer showed them to the hospitality room. Sometimes they found their own way there – they had spoken at the museum before or gotten directions from a museum employee.

So in-between panels, I would go downstairs, check to see that all the next-panel authors had arrived, talk with them about t-shirts and set-up, then head back upstairs. Sometimes the hospitality room had only one or two authors in it; sometimes it was SRO with extra family and friends of the authors. At the end of each day, I cleaned up the room, getting rid of left-over food and trash and straightening chairs.

On Sunday, everything had to be cleaned up, including water bottles and trash. What I discovered on Sunday was that a book had been left … for me. It had a piece of paper on it that said, “For Helen.” It wasn’t a book that was part of any of the panels either Saturday or Sunday. It wasn’t by an author on any panel. It wasn’t autographed.

Who left it? When did they leave it? The back cover has a picture of the author, but I don’t remember seeing him. (Of course, considering how many people I saw, I probably wouldn’t have unless he came up and introduced himself.) So, somehow this author, Jim Strong, found his way to the hospitality room and quietly left a book for me. The book is called “Craving for Travel.” It has beautiful pictures and a write-up on each luxury travel destination.

A definite mystery to me. I can easily see how he could have been down there without me ever knowing – it was rather busy at times. I guess the mystery is that he not only left a book, he specifically left a note saying it was for me. I wish I’d known in time to thank him.

A Special Gift, One Writer to Another

Today I had lunch with a long-time friend. Years ago, we wrote a book together. The book is good; the writing was hell. Or I should say the editing was hell. Frustrating, painful. But we got through it and remained friends. Didn’t actually do anything much with the manuscript except edit it.

I hadn’t seen her in ages. She divides her life between Austin and Florida. She was in Austin and emailed, so we got together and caught up on our lives and kids and writing. It was good to see her. She hadn’t changed. Still young, still interesting, still Susan.

She had a surprise for me, an early birthday present. First, I was surprised because I had brought nothing for her. Second, I was surprised by the wonderful gift.

She brought me a bound copy of our book. Not published with an ISBN or anything, but a printed copy with a cover. She, and her husband, had worked for hours to get it formatted like an actual paperback. She’d worked on the cover art. She said the cover she ended up with was not the one she’d spent hours creating because in the end she couldn’t get it to work, but what she had was slick and very nice. The title, our names, a gun.

What a treat to see what our book might actually look like. The weight it would be in your hand. The thickness of the book, the number of pages, the size. The feel. The joy of reading our manuscript on the printed page.

It was a very special gift. Thank you Susan.

A Weekend of Books, Writers, Friends and Sore Feet

This past weekend was filled with so many books, writers, and friends that I smiled the whole time, despite my aching feet. If you live in Austin or have been reading my posts, then you know that this past Saturday and Sunday was the Texas Book Festival.

The Festival was great. The only bad thing, for me, was that I only got to see a fraction of it. But what I got to see was wonderful. As Chair of the events at the Austin Museum of Art, I was there (on my feet) from about 8:30 or 9 in the morning until around 6. I’m used to sitting on my bee-hind at the computer, not standing in boots on a hard floor.

But I was well compensated because I got to hear wonderful panels and see great slides. Almost all the books were coffee table books on subjects ranging from photographs of Stanley Marcus to political memorabilia to Texas football to dance halls to country houses built by John F. Staub. And I also had the best volunteers. Only one no-call, no-show. And I had one young man show up unexpectedly and he stayed all day, even helped put away table and chairs on Sunday.

The most well attended event was Sunday afternoon – Bill Wittliff, the guy who wrote the fabulous screenplay for Lonesome Dove. I won’t tell you how well-attended, because you might alert the fire marshal. We were definitely SRO. Bill was so funny and had great stories to tell from the shooting of the movie. I wanted to get his book and autograph, but the line was so long that by the time I could have gotten to him, the next panel was well under way (and we had thirty minutes between each panel).

A fun panel was Sunday morning on vaqueros, led by John Dyer. Also on the panel were Elmer Kelton and Marty Alegria. Marty is a real vaquero and he came fully dressed, not in a costume, but in his everyday gear for working on the King Ranch.

An author friend of mine stopped by – Diane Fanning. She had a panel on Saturday and another on Sunday up in the capitol area, and she drove in both days since she doesn’t live in Austin. On Sunday, she took the time to troop down Congress, carrying her bag of stuff for her panel, just to say hi to me. What a wonderful surprise that was. She has news about upcoming books and her most current one out, but I’ll let her tell it.

All the writers I “hosted” at AMOA were really nice, even the big names like Wittliff and Kelton. No snobs among them.

I’m taking today to recover, then I’ll be ready to go again next year.

Screenwriters United in Call for Strike

The buzz today is that the screenwriters union in Hollywood will strike. Union leaders in both New York and Los Angeles have been meeting to approve the move. For both writers and producers, the sticking point seems to be the union’s demand for an increase in fees writers receive when their work is reproduced on DVDs, the Internet, mobile phones and other electronic devices.

According to BBC News:

Negotiators for the Writers Guild of America (WGA) had met the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on Wednesday, hours before an existing agreement expired.

The BBC also said:

Five thousand members of the WGA recently took part in a ballot and 90% voted in favour of industrial action.

The last time screenwriters walked off the job was in 1988. That move delayed some TV series and cost a reported $500m.

According to the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW):

Before a standing-room-only audience of 3,000 Writers Guild members in the Los Angeles Convention Center’s West Hall in downtown L.A. Thursday night, the Writers Guild of America Negotiating Committee, on behalf of the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), announced its unanimous recommendation to call a strike against the film studios and television networks that make up the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

The Writers Guild of America East (WGAE), on their website in an article posted at 3:39 this morning said:

Through the course of negotiations, we have never received ANY counterproposals to our serious proposals -- not only on DVD's and Internet downloads, but other issues important to us -- especially new media and expanded jurisdiction in such areas as reality programming, animation and basic cable.
The members of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are using fear and attempts at intimidation to maintain a status quo that makes no sense in a 21st century world of rapidly expanding global markets and new media. They are after our livelihoods with a short-sighted strategy that would reduce residuals by as much as 85%, drastically undermining our economic security and the very creativity on which they rely.

On the other side of the table, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), in their position paper, said the roadblock, for them, is the DVD issue, including the formula for electronic sell-through.

The consistent message from the CEOs was that, for overriding business reasons, the home video formula would not be changed. ... no further movement is possible to close the gap between us so long as your DVD proposal remains on the table. In referring to DVDs, we include not only traditional DVDs, but also electronic sell-through -- i.e., permanent downloads.

The writers are getting outside moral support. Actor Alec Baldwin, for example, wrote a blog post in The Huffington Post recalling the last WGA strike and applauding writers.

… as an actor who has worked in film and television since 1980, I have always been pretty clear about the fact that we are nowhere without the writers in our industry. And that goes beyond the scary concept of a world of unscripted reality TV. Television and film writers are responsible for some of the greatest literature in the history of our society.

Things can always change at the last minute, but as of today at 3 a.m., the WGA Contract 2007 Negotiating Committee had made an unanimous recommendation that the WGAE and WGAW implement the strike authorization.

Author's Blog Tour: Susan Wittig Albert

If you've read blogs, you've probably heard about writers going on blog "tours." It's rather like a book tour, except done in cyberspace. The author arranges "speaking" engagements on various blogs, much like they might at book stores.

This kind of thing can save the author money (no hotels, gas mileage, etc.). But it doesn't save them work. They have to prepare for each blog appearance. In some ways it can be more work since when you travel from store to store, you can pretty much recycle the talk. But with blogs, a lot of authors try to come up with new information for each visit.

It's not easy to tell if you get as many sales since it's not always possible to track the buying habits of someone stopping by the blog to read the tour post.

Of course, it doesn't have to be exclusive. Some writers do a virtual tour as well as a physical one. But blog tours are becoming more popular.

The fabulous writer Susan Wittig Albert is going to be doing a blog tour. She'll be stopping by Straight From Hel on her "trip." She hasn't set the date yet, but I'll keep you posted.

Here's what Susan said about blog tours and her tour in particular:

An author's blog "tour" involves a series of prearranged guest appearances on various blogs, scheduled for posting one or two a day. The posts might be chats, Q&A, guest posts, whatever. My publisher is supporting my tour by providing copies of The Tale of Hawthorn House for the drawing. We'll be giving away three books at every blog appearance, and there'll be a grand prize drawing at the end.

This tour runs from Nov. 5-14. Here's the current schedule: http://www.cottagetales.com/blogtour.shtml. I'll be "tracking" the tour on my own blogs (including my Amazon blog) and doing a wrap-up post about a week afterward, specifically for authors who are interested in trying this for themselves. I've enjoyed the process so far, and am already looking forward to doing a blog tour for Nightshade (China Bayles #16) in April 08.