A Fabulous (and Free) Resource for Writers

By Kim

Ask most people what they imagine an author looks like, and they’ll probably describe a solitary figure hunched over a computer keyboard. There’s some truth to that, of course, but the business end of publishing now requires writers to be more extroverted than many of us are comfortable with. To be successful we’re expected to network, write guest blog posts or blurbs, give interviews, Skype into book clubs, and even do some public speaking.

If local writers’ groups are hard to come by in your area, there are many places on the internet for authors to mingle. Not all of us shell out the subscription fees for paid forums, and it's not absolutely necessary.

I’ve found most of my writer friends on Facebook. I joined several groups on there to begin with, but most boards struck me as a long line of commercials. Read my blog! Buy my book! Follow me! Buy my book! Like me! Buy my book! Actual conversation rarely happened.

This changed in January of 2011, when Therese Walsh and Kathleen Bolton started a Writer Unboxed (Facebook) group in celebration of the fifth anniversary of their blog of the same name. (If you haven’t yet visited Writer Unboxed, it’s well worth checking out. Writer’s Digest has listed it as one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers from 2007-2012 and in 2011 it was a winner in the Top 10 Blogs for Writers Contest.)

The purpose of the WU Facebook group is to give writers a place to come together and discuss the craft and business of fiction without the pressure of building platform. I was one of the first members and in October of last year Therese Walsh invited me to join the moderator team.

As of today, Writer Unboxed (FB) has over 1,400 members ranging from respected published authors to newbies to top agents like Donald Maass. This is a community where you can ask an obscure research question and have a dozen answers in an hour. (My question, in case you’re curious, was how one might attach a prosthetic leg onto a rooster in the 1930’s. One of the answers from WU is now in The Oak Lovers.)

If you haven’t already done so, I invite you to come on over and check out the WU Facebook group here. Once an administrator has let you into the group, take a look in the menu marked ‘files.’ In there you can read the rules of the group and add your FB profile, twitter handle, blog, or website to the appropriate places. If you want a critique partner, we have a file for that, too. Any questions? Ask me or any other members of the Mod Squad – Vaughn Roycroft, Heather Reid, or Valerie Chandler - and we’ll help you out.

Who's got your back?

By Pamela

Last week, the six of us spent the evening at the Richardson Reads One Book event, hearing Jamie Ford discuss his bestseller: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. As we were standing in line to talk to Jamie, the six of us began discussing our upcoming retreat. We really weren't all that quiet while we talked about what we loved about last year's place, where we might want to go this year, who was willing to room with whom, and so forth.

Eventually, we realized, since we were almost the last in line, we might as well let the few behind us go before us. Just like having a few more than 15 items in the express lane, we figured it was only fair not to make the others wait. (We knew we'd want to chat with Jamie and maybe talk him into a photo op.)

As we let the others go ahead of us, a lady who graciously moved up in the queue leaned in and asked me, "Are y'all related?" I wondered if she thought we might be planning a family reunion--a gathering of sisters or cousins who really don't resemble each other that much.

"No," I said. "We're writers."

But maybe I answered too quickly because we are a family. We're bonded in a way that makes me know I have five women who have my back. And while we've never lived under one roof (except for during our annual retreats, which last three days and nights), we do reach out to each other--either over lunch, phone calls or emails.

Not a day goes by that I don't hear from at least one of the other five. And even though, due to work and family commitments and the distance between our homes, we don't get together as often as we'd like, we might meet two or three at a time.

When Susan transitioned from full-time, work-at-the-office employee to work-from-home consultant, she and I met for lunch and talked for hours about her new role. When Julie's book deal went to auction, Susan grabbed lunch and half a dozen cupcakes and went over to Julie's house to hold vigil, while we all eagerly waited to hear the news. This week, Elizabeth and I have a lunch date planned to discuss her new manuscript and figure out some details about where mine is heading. And next month, Joan and I are driving to Austin for a Writers' League of Texas workshop we both thought would serve us well.

Last week I paid the deposit on our new retreat location at a lake house that usually hosts scrap-bookers. (A couple of emails went around to explain to Susan what the heck a 'crop table' was; we'll use them for critique sessions.) When I told the home's owner that we were a group of writers, she said, "Oh, we've never had writers before."

"Well, we're a lot of fun," I told her. "We're like sisters."

If you write and don't have the support of like-minded souls, I urge you to get out there. Write in public, don't hesitate to tell others that you're a writer, attend author events, seek out writing groups, go to conferences, check out online groups like Backspace. I know my life has been made all the more richer because I got out from behind my computer and met My Fabulous Five.

The long and completely true story of how Julie found her dream agent!

By Julie

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’d been offered representation, but decided to let it settle around me for a while before I talked about it here on the blog. I wanted to be sure my priorities were in order, and my last full post came from that place. It’s still true; so much in life is more important than landing the right agent.

But you know what? It’s still pretty darn cool. So now I’m talking about it. It's a long post—I hope you'll bear with me!

As an unagented writer, I spent hours poring over search results, combing the blogosphere for stories about writers and their agents. On the one hand, it was a great way to research the process—to discover why authors queried certain agents, how long it took to find an agent, how many queries they sent before getting “the call,” what kinds of questions they asked before signing the contract, and so on. On the other hand, these posts were like little pep talks. When I read success stories—especially from authors I know—I got butterflies in my stomach. Realizing dreams, it seemed, wasn’t an impossibility.

I got that feeling when I read Therese Walsh’s post on the fabulous Writer Unboxed blog: “Home Run! Therese Finds her Perfect Agent!” back in the fall of 2008. I’d only just begun compiling a list of agents to query with my last manuscript. (Yes, there were others, may they rest in peace. It was my first to query.) I’d known Teri a while online. We’d both taken classes from the same amazing author (Barbara Samuel O’Neal), were in some of the same online forums, and eventually clicked to become Facebook friends. I admired Teri’s determination and attitude and absolute transparency when it came to her writing journey. Her character alone was a recommendation for her agent, but I also liked what I saw on Elisabeth’s website—who she’d chosen to represent and what kinds of books they were writing. So I added Elisabeth Weed’s name to my query list, dreaming of the day when I’d finally send my first letter out.

In May 2009, I sent my first query to the agent at the top of my list—Elisabeth Weed. I sent two more, just to be on the safe side. (Ha!) Imagine my excitement when I opened my inbox the next day to receive a request for the first fifty pages of my manuscript from Elisabeth. I was beside myself, and after the emails flew among my fellow What Women Write ladies, I jotted a quick note to Teri, telling her I’d received a request and if the time came, would she mind me picking her brain about Elisabeth. “Woot! Julie, that’s awesome! Of course, send any questions along as things progress. Elisabeth is terrific. Good luck!” (Facebook is so sweet to keep all these conversations for so long … and kind of creepy, too.)

Now imagine my dismay when my first rejection also came from Elisabeth Weed—and one of the nicest I received. I knew there would be many more before it was all over. I’d queried other agents in the interim, of course, and kept doing so for several more months while another story began tugging at my heart. I didn’t query a huge number of agents—maybe twenty five in all. I received a decent number of partial requests and one full, but each was followed by another rejection. I was already getting a sense that maybe it wasn’t “the one.” While I loved the story, and the characters lived on in my mind and heart (still do!), I suspected it wasn’t where I was supposed to be as a writer. It was trying too hard to be like another author I loved (waving at Jodi Picoult, as if she’ll ever read this!). It was time to move on. I’d been attempting to write a new story in the same niche while I queried, but after nearly fifty thousand words, I put it aside as well.

That other story, the one that started tugging at my heart early on, just wouldn’t let me go. I’d learned a surprising bit of family lore from my father. One line, basically, with no more hints of what happened: As a teen, my grandmother had fallen deeply in love with a young black man, and their families ripped them apart. It was all he knew, and none of the involved parties were living, so it’s all I’ll ever know. But it wouldn’t let me go. I began to imagine what might have been. I selected a setting and time period, slightly different from when and where my grandmother lived, but perfect for my story, did a lot of research on the area, laws, time periods, and anything else written on the subject. In April 2010, I wrote the first 30 thousand words or so during a Backspace writing marathon. Over the next several months, I added another 45 thousand, and in November, I did my own version of NaNoWriMo (NaNoFiMo: National Novel Finishing Month!), to write the final 30 thousand words.

I mostly ignored the file over the holidays, then pulled it out to begin revising in earnest after the New Year. I began setting my beta readers upon it (I picture them like a school of beta fish going after their dinner) in mid-February. After the critique of my marvelous group, some non-writers, and several more months of fiddling with the thing, I finally decided it was time to query. I ran my query letter by my critique group a few hundred times, and also by my trusty fellow Backspacers, who poked and prodded at it gently and graciously.

I sent a few queries at the end of June, but this time I didn’t query Elisabeth first. I wanted to be sure my query letter was effective. I didn’t want to waste an opportunity. Because she was still at the top of my list. I received a request for a partial from another agent immediately, and was thrilled, but by then, the last few members of What Women Write had read and critiqued CALLING ME HOME and I realized I had a little more work to do. I was relieved I hadn’t sent more queries or partials into the ether.

A couple of weeks and some hard revisions later, I was ready to query again. This time, late Thursday, July 14, I sent my first letter to Elisabeth. I sent a few more a few hours later, just to be on the safe side. (Is this sounding like the movie Groundhog Day? It kind of is. Keep reading!)

Imagine my excitement when I received a request Monday afternoon for a partial from Stephanie Sun, Elisabeth’s delightful assistant (who is now building her own list!), on Elisabeth’s behalf. I hadn’t said anything to my group, wanting to query under the radar for a bit, but of course I couldn’t contain my excitement and the emails started flying. I sent a note to Teri—shocked to find my old note floated back up in Facebook, reminding me exactly when I’d messaged about the last time I’d queried!—and I said something much the same, but perhaps not quite as confident as when I was a brand new querier the first time around. “AWESOME!!” Teri wrote. “I’ll put in a good word for you and cross my fingers!” She suggested a relaxing glass of wine, though within a day or two I said I probably needed to upgrade to Jack Daniels. (If you know me at all, this should make you laugh pretty hard—Julie doesn’t do alcohol very well at all. I stuck with wine and not much of it.)

The next day, I received another email, this time from Elisabeth herself. “I just read the first three chapters of Calling Me Home and think they are terrific! Will you send me the rest? I can't wait to see how this love story unfolds.”

O.M.G. Let me think about that ... OF COURSE I WILL! I sent it off late that night after madly making sure all my i‘s were dotted and t’s were crossed. (I emailed Teri: “What did you tell her? That I can perform miracles?” Teri responded that she had her toes crossed, too, now.)

The next day, Wednesday, I received a note from another published friend who has been an incredible mentor to me over the years. She’d asked if she could read my manuscript a few weeks earlier. Her note said she loved it and wanted to recommend it on to her agent with my permission. WHAT?! I was overwhelmed. I wasn’t sleeping or eating much by then. Her agent agreed to read the full manuscript and I sent it off that day.

I wasn’t sure how to handle this with Elisabeth. I’d heard it was polite to send other agents a note when other agents had your full manuscript. Others said only to nudge if you’d received an offer of representation. I was conflicted. I asked Teri what she thought, and she said it couldn’t hurt to let Elisabeth know.

I think the new request was providence.

I contacted Elisabeth, and it turned out she hadn’t received my full manuscript for some reason. “I'm so glad you emailed. I requested the rest of your ms yesterday and hadn't heard back from you. Clearly you didn't get it. Please send so I can read the rest. I'm loving it!” Then, later: “I am so glad you emailed again as I was seriously refreshing my email, hoping I had this to read tonight!”

Needless to say, I was allowing myself to hope at this point. Just a little. But trying to keep my cool.

To make a short story long … I received another email from Elisabeth the next Tuesday: “Dear Julie, I literally just finished reading this at my desk! Thank you so much for sending Calling Me Home my way. I loved it!” and later, after she commented more on the story and some revisions she anticipated it needed, “I am having Stephanie, my trusted colleague read alongside me and was hoping you and I could find some time to talk. Are you around tomorrow or Thursday?”

Was I around the next two days? Of course I was. And was this … The Call?

I was dying from anticipation. It felt like it was going to be The Call. But I wasn’t going to count my chickens before they hatched.

I emailed Teri, “Note from Elisabeth today saying she loved my manuscript and wants to speak by phone call tomorrow or Thursday! Good sign, yes?!?!”

Teri: “Oh, this makes me soooo happy! Yes, a very good sign.”

Turns out that stinker already knew Elisabeth was going to offer representation, but she was gracious enough to let me hear the words from Elisabeth herself the next day: “In case it’s not clear, I’m calling to offer you representation.”

So on Wednesday, July 29, We spent more than an hour on the phone, discussing my manuscript, how she saw it positioned in the marketplace, how she typically worked with clients, and so on. By the time we finished talking, I’d ticked all the questions off my “things to ask potential agent” list without even having to ask most of them. And though the majority of articles you read about considering offers of representation say to thank the agent and tell her you’ll get back to her after you’d have a chance to consider, and to notify any other agents reading your manuscript, I had a gut feeling. I told her, “I’m just going to go ahead and say now that I feel good about this. You’ve been my top pick from the day I sent my first query two years ago, you’ve answered all my questions, and I can’t see any reason not to say yes today.”

After we disconnected, my daughter, my wonderful, wise girl who got the first post after this experience, said, “You just sounded like you were talking to one of your writer friends.”

It was more confirmation I’d made the right decision. I sent a note to the other agent who had my full, letting her know that while I appreciated her offer to read and admired her for doing such a truly fabulous job for my friend, I believed I was making the right decision in accepting Elisabeth’s offer. She was gracious and full of good wishes.

So here I am, a month or so later, an agented author. August is no-man’s land in the publishing world, so we’ve taken that time to fine tune my manuscript. I’ve completed two sets of revisions and it sounds like we’re on target for Elisabeth to start submitting to editors soon! I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I hope you’ll take this post as I did all those times I read about The Call—as a few words to the wise, and a reason to keep following your dreams.

Most of all, I want to take a moment to thank some dear friends who helped make this the exciting and relatively painless process it was this time around. Therese Walsh, author extraordinaire of The Last Will of Moira Leahy and creator of Writer Unboxed. And my other friend—the fabulous multi-published Diane Chamberlain. (Both of them have been our special guests on What Women Write, here and here.) And of course, my amazing group of women right here at What Women Write. (And my BFF Gail, who is not yet a writer, but is determined I’ll need a personal assistant ASAP.) This kind of feels like an academy awards speech, so I’m stopping there for now.

But this only reinforces what I’ve known for a few years now. The writing community isn’t a tank full of sharks, circling to devour one another (well, maybe there are a few sharks, but I haven’t run across any yet). It’s a community of friends who look out for each other and help each other along the way. I hope I’ll always remember to pay it forward.

P.S. That picture up there--it's my two girls. That picture was taken the evening of the afternoon I got The Call. They were NOT at our house, and I have no idea what they celebrating, but I like how they do it!

Interview with Agent Kristin Nelson, part I

By Pamela

When I started writing fiction years ago—even before I began networking with other writers—I turned to the Internet as my first resource—for how to write compelling characters, how to create conflict, and ultimately, how to secure an agent. One of the agent’s blogs I faithfully read was Kristin Nelson’s Pub Rants, and later I queried her with my first project. She turned me down (and she should have—I had a lot to learn yet!) but she remains a favorite agent of mine for her commitment to telling it like it is and educating writers about the industry. So, imagine how delighted I was when she said, YES! when I asked her to participate here on our blog.

Here's more information about Kristin:

Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary Agency, LLC

Being an avid reader practically since birth, Kristin is equally happy reading a Pulitzer prize-winning literary novel for her book club or a sexy romance novel. She established Nelson Literary Agency, LLC in 2002 after the literary agent she was working for expressed dismay that Kristin wanted to represent—gasp!—genre fiction as well as literary novels. Forming NLA was absolutely the right thing to do. She currently specializes in representing commercial fiction (mainstream, women’s fiction, romance, science fiction, fantasy, young adult and middle grade) and literary fiction with a commercial bent. In general, she does not handle nonfiction projects with the exception of an occasional memoir. Clients include bestselling authors Jamie Ford, Ally Carter, Gail Carriger, Simone Elkeles, Courtney Milan, and RITA-award winners Sherry Thomas and Linnea Sinclair. When she is not busy selling books, Kristin loves playing Ultimate Frisbee (where she tends to be the oldest person on the team) and taking hikes with her husband and their dog Chutney. Member: AAR, RWA, SFWA, SCBWI. Please visit her website www.nelsonagency.com before submitting and also check out Kristin’s popular blog http://pubrants.blogspot.com.

Pamela
You’ve been blogging for over five years. How do your posts differ now from those earliest ones?

Kristin
Initially I spent a lot of time blogging about beginning writers’ mistakes—and still do occasionally if I find a topic that’s helpful for my audience—but today I tend to write from an agent’s viewpoint about how writers can protect themselves and what some of the changes in the industry are. Because, regardless of the changes in the digital publishing industry, mechanics of writing and beginning writers’ mistakes haven’t changed much in the past five years and those were covered in earlier entries.

Pamela
Publishing is all about relationships. How much do your relationships with editors and publishers play into your deciding to take on a project? Have you passed on a submission that sounded like an amazing story for which you just couldn’t think of a publisher/editor? 

Kristin
I’ve definitely looked at sample pages or a full manuscript where I don’t have a really good vision of how I could talk about it. But I know I’m going to take on an author when I can’t put down the book and can immediately think of ten editors who would love to see it and I start formalizing in my head how I’m going to talk about the novel. When I’ve read things that were good that really didn’t speak to me and I didn’t have that clear vision in my head, ultimately I passed on it. A lot of those never got representation. Some have gone on to be agented but not sold. And then quite a few have gone on to be agented and sold. And some for really good money. But if I didn’t have the vision for the book, then I was not the right person for it. I know writers hate to hear that, but because they feel like, ‘Oh, if it’s good writing and the person’s telling a good story, wouldn’t you take it on?’ But no, not necessarily.

Pamela
So, no agent-remorse when something you passed on went on to do really well, if you knew in your heart it wasn’t what you wanted to represent?

 

Kristin
I’ve only been remorseful about one project, and while reading it, I kept going back and forth and back and forth. At the time I was thinking, ‘This is kind of like a knock-off of Twilight.’ And what I should have been thinking was, ‘Oh, this is kind of like Twilight.’ The writing and the concept were really good but I decided if I was going back and forth, I should pass. Two weeks later, I was still thinking about the book and I got back in touch with that author but she had already signed with someone else. And then I knew that was going to be the one that I was going to be remorseful about. But all the others that I’ve passed on, that have gone on to sell and do well, I still review them to see if there are a lot of revisions since I’ve seen them, and I still don’t get the feeling that they were for me. Not every book in the world is going to appeal to every reader in the world. There are a lot of people who don’t like JK Rowling and I can’t imagine it, but there are.

Pamela
Several of your recent blog posts focused on query letters and writers missing the mark as to piquing your interest. Do you feel the biggest problem is good writers who over-think the query or writers who submit work that’s not yet ready?

Kristin
To me, those are two very separate things. Because there are some writers who nail the query letter and then you look at the sample pages and you realize it’s just not ready for an agent to see. They’ve just not mastered their craft—at least in the draft that I’m seeing. Not to say they won’t ever master the craft. If someone hasn’t written a good query letter, we’re just passing on it regardless of how good the pages might end up being because we’re not even getting to the stage that we’re looking at the pages.

Of about the 36,000 queries we got last year, probably more than 50 percent were so poorly written that they were rejected within seconds, so you’re not really competing with them. If you’ve learned how to write a good query, then you’re competing with the group of writers who may or may not pique our interest.

Pamela
I watched a video on your blog that was recorded at a conference you attended. And of all the research I’ve done online about how to write a query letter—that video of you and what you advised: to reread your first 30 pages and find the inciting event and let that form the cornerstone of your query, became a light bulb moment for me. It’s really the best piece of advice I’d seen. 

Kristin
I don’t disagree. And when I teach that workshop, it’s amazing how hard it is to get some people to think about what their inciting incident is—usually it’s because their inciting incident isn’t happening within the first 30 pages. It ends up being on page 100 and right there you know your manuscript’s in trouble. You have a pacing issue.

Pamela
A couple of us at What Women Write are Backspace members. For writers who are not familiar with Backspace, how would you sell them on the benefits of belonging to the group? Are there other online support systems you think are worth the investment of time and money?

Kristin
I know of three: Writers.net, Backspace and Absolute Write’s watercooler. My question to writers would be: Why aren’t you involved in one of these groups? All have wonderful, professional writers who dispense advice and offer feedback and generally make themselves available. Holy cow! Why wouldn’t you want to be a part of that? For example, on Backspace agents will often chat on the forum boards. Where else can you get that one-on-one opportunity in a virtual situation where people will address questions? Some of the most amazing posts on the forum are by experienced authors who say: These were my mistakes.

I’ll never forget on Backspace when a very popular NYT’s bestselling thriller author talked about how she got into a world of trouble for not paying her taxes on time. Ever since then, I always have a conversation with my authors who have large advances on the importance of keeping up with their taxes. How smart that she was willing to say, ‘Hey, this was a big mistake that I made.’

Pamela
We’ve followed Jamie Ford’s publishing journey—saw him speak in Dallas, featured him on the blog and will eagerly hear him again as he returns this fall for Richardson Reads One Book’s event. He stated that his query included having a portion of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet place in a short story contest. How important are pre-pubbed credits such as contests when it comes to getting your attention in a query? 

Kristin
It absolutely never hurts to have prepublication credentials, especially if you’re writing literary fiction and are in the good literary magazines. That’s going to carry a lot of weight—just like graduating from Iowa’s MFA workshop carries a lot of weight. But it’s not the end-all, be-all. I’ve definitely signed authors who didn’t have anything. Nada! And I took them on. As long as the manuscript is wonderful and strong enough, that’s most important. Having non-fiction credits, even if you’re shopping a novel, doesn’t hurt because it communicates a level of professionalism and shows you know how to meet a deadline. In the end, non-fiction pub credits won’t play a factor in promoting fiction unless you’re an NPR correspondent or if you have a pretty high level of media exposure as someone like David Sedaris.

Come back tomorrow for part two of Kristin's interview where she discusses contract negotiations and what she's currently looking for in submissions. 

A visit with Sara J. Henry, author of Learning to Swim

By Julie

Today, we welcome Sara J. Henry, author of Learning to Swim (Random House/2-22-11). Sara is getting lots of good buzz and great placement for her debut novel. It's a featured alternate of Doubleday Book Club, Literary Guild, Book of the Month Club, Mystery Guild, and Doubleday Large Print.

I’ve “known” Sara from the Backspace writers’ forum for a few years and have watched her journey from posting first chapters for critique to posting cover art and links to thrilling reviews and interviews for Learning to Swim. Sara was also the thread that connected me with Quinn Cummings, providing us with our very first author interview at What Women Write back in 2009.

From the publisher:
When she witnesses a small child tumbling from a ferry into Lake Champlain, Troy Chance dives in without thinking. Harrowing moments later, she bobs to the surface, pulling a terrified little boy with her. As the ferry disappears into the distance, she begins a bone-chilling swim nearly a mile to shore with a tiny passenger on her back.

Surprisingly, he speaks only French. He’ll acknowledge that his name is Paul; otherwise, he’s resolutely mute.

Troy assumes that Paul’s frantic parents will be in touch with the police or the press. But what follows is a shocking and deafening silence. And Troy, a freelance writer, finds herself as fiercely determined to protect Paul as she is to find out what happened to him. What she uncovers will take her into a world of wealth and privilege and heedless self-indulgence – a world in which the murder of a child is not unthinkable. She’ll need skill and courage to survive and protect her charge and herself.

Sara J. Henry’s powerful and compelling Learning to Swim will move and disturb readers right up to its shattering conclusion.

About Sara:
Sara J. Henry has been a columnist, soil scientist, book and magazine editor, Web designer, writing instructor, and bicycle mechanic. Learning to Swim is her first novel.

JK: Welcome, Sara, to What Women Write! The inciting incident in Learning to Swim happens in the very first few paragraphs:

If I’d blinked, I would have missed it.

But I didn’t, and I saw something fall from the rear deck of the other ferry. It could have been a bundle of trash; it could have been a child-size doll. Either was more likely than what I thought I saw: a small wide‑eyed human face, in one tiny frozen moment as it plummeted toward the water.

What I did next was a visceral reaction to those small eyes I thought I saw. Without conscious thought I vaulted onto the railing I was leaning against, took a deep breath, and dived. It’s amazing what you can do if you don’t stop to think.

(Hooked? Read the rest of chapter 1 here!)

Talk about a heart-pounding dive into the story. Readers often want to know where writers get their ideas in general, but I’d love to know how, specifically, this idea was born.

SJH: I had lived in the Adirondacks for four years, and was on a return visit, driving along Lake Champlain, the huge lake that separates New York state and Vermont, on a misty, overcast day. For some reason I imagined a woman on one of the big ferries that crosses the lake at its widest part, seeing a child fall in from the opposite ferry and making the split-second decision to dive in after him.

Then I had to build an entire novel around that one scene, which wasn’t particularly easy, I’ll admit.

JK: Learning to Swim crosses genre lines in ways. It’s generally classified as suspense, but it’s also a good old-fashioned whodunit with a bit of a literary feel and a love story at its heart. This could sound like a novel with a split personality, but never fear, readers, it works and works well.

How did you and your veteran agent, Barney Karpfinger (who also represents author John Lescroart and for decades represented Jonathan and Faye Kellerman – not bad company, Sara!) decide to pitch it to editors when it went out on submission?

SJH: I grew up reading old suspense novels by Mary Stewart (Nine Coaches Waiting; This Rough Magic; The Ivy Tree; Madam, Will You Talk?) as well as my father’s Travis McGee books by John D. MacDonald, and they definitely shaped my writing. The two of them were masters at blending genres – Stewart is considered one of the founders of romantic suspense and MacDonald was an extraordinary storyteller with a deeply introspective hero and gritty plots.

I never wanted to write a run-of-the-mill mystery or thriller, although I certainly enjoy reading them. And I wanted a heroine who could be any woman, an ordinary woman thrust into extraordinary circumstances. One agent who read the first forty or so pages told me I needed to cut out anything that wasn’t suspense, but I thought that agent was wrong – that all the additional elements were what made this novel work and would make it resonate for readers, and I stuck to my guns.

One advantage of well-established and greatly respected agents is that they don’t need to pitch hard, because editors know them well and know the type of authors and projects they represent. (They pitch well, but not hard, if that makes sense.) Barney told editors over the phone how the book opens, and the gist of his cover letter was this one sentence: By turns disturbing and moving—and always compelling—this novel of suspense marks the beginning of a significant new career. I had discussions with editors from three houses and no one had a problem with the blurring of genres – or if they did, they didn’t mention it!

JK: In one of your first blog interviews with Dawn Kurtagich, you tell the interesting story of writing and then rewriting Learning to Swim, stating that the rewriting is when the story really came together. We have lots of aspiring writers in our reader audience, and many of us have heard that famous mantra: “Writing is rewriting.” But that can be a bit of a mysterious concept. In your situation, what did rewriting really mean? Did you throw away the manuscript and start from scratch? Or …?

SJH: Definitely not from scratch. In fact the first chapter is pretty much how I wrote it originally, as are other key chapters. I’ll answer this question in two parts, because I really rewrote in two basic ways. The first was straightening out a very muddled middle part of the book: characters were thin, the pacing was slow, and the plot needed a lot of work. I’d written the book very quickly, because I knew if I’d slowed down I would have convinced myself I couldn’t do it.

But then I had to work out an involved plotline and re-engineer it into a book that was already written. As I’ve said elsewhere, I thought my brain would break, and I’ll never again do it that way. I also had to improve the pacing – at one point the characters go off to Home Depot, and there the book slowed to a crawl. (Going to Home Depot is now code for pace slowing down.) But at the end of this, I had a book that worked.

What I did next – and this was in several passes – was a complete relayering. Some scenes remained untouched, but others needed life breathed into them. In places I’d done what I call “cheating” – skipping over details or how a character felt, sometimes because the scene made me uncomfortable or was difficult to write. I reworked each of these scenes, imagining it from each character’s perspective. And along the way I truly learned to write. I learned the power that one word has to change the impact or flow of a scene, and I learned how moving a paragraph from one place to another can alter readers’ perception entirely. And I’d say I fell in love with writing all over again.

Finally – and this was well after the manuscript was accepted – I took a good look at the last four chapters, in which I’d crammed in every possible detail of explanation. (Reed Farrel Coleman told me, “I’m surprised you didn’t explain nuclear fission while you were at it.”) I told my editor I had to redo them, and he didn’t object. I rewrote those chapters, condensed them to three, and read them aloud over the phone to Reed – who is the best critique partner imaginable – and kept honing them until they worked.

Never underestimate the value of reading aloud, even if just to yourself.

JK: I know a little about your own world from interacting with you on Facebook and reading your blog posts on occasion. Would you share with our readers how your own unique world reflects that of Troy’s?

SJH: Like Troy, I rented a big house on Main Street in Lake Placid, New York, and rented out rooms to a batch of mostly athlete roommates. And like Troy, I was the sports editor at the local daily newspaper, and had a wonderful golden retriever/German shepherd mix dog named Tiger.

Troy likes computers and likes to work on bicycles, as I do - and she likes being able to do a lot of things. My dad gave me a fully stocked toolbox when I was 11 – but also gave me a sewing box and showed me how to knit. So while I can darn socks and cut hair, I also know how to roof a house, because my father showed me how to snap a chalk line, lay shingles, and pound in roofing nails. He was a nuclear physicist, not a roofer – but he strongly believed that people ought to know how to do all sorts of things.

JK: From that photo, I think it's obvious Tiger has been one of a long line of well-loved dogs!

Sara, when we try to define that mysterious quality known as writer’s voice, we know it has something to do with who we are and where we’ve been. How have other aspects of your own history informed your writing in general and also in writing Learning to Swim?

SJH: In one way or another, just about everything I’ve ever done and every person I’ve met has informed my writing. I can’t explain it any better than that. Clearly I never dived off a ferry after a small child, but I’ve experienced many of the emotions my characters have, and knowing a wide variety of people certainly helps you develop believable characters.

JK: I’ve pitched Backspace to our readers at What Women Write many times over the last few years. I’ve witnessed the value of being involved in an active community of writers, both online and at a local level. Of course you need to be a fantastic writer with a lot of good ideas and a lot of perseverance to become a published author, but what has being an active member of the Backspace forum meant for you on your journey to publication?

SJH: I followed my friend Jamie Ford to Backspace, but because my novel was in the final stages of polishing when I joined and I acquired an agent soon thereafter, my experience there isn’t quite that of some other unpublished writers (and because I’d written and cowritten several nonfiction books, I wasn’t technically unpublished).

What Backspace has given me is friendships, and an enormous amount of support from the people I’ve met there. Backspacers have been marvelous to respond to posts and generous in their praise. Writing is a solitary occupation and Backspace has made it markedly less so.

JK: Finally, what’s up next for you?

SJH: I am finishing up the sequel to Learning to Swim, and then I’ll be polishing that and doing some publicity and book touring for the first novel. And I have Books 3 and 4 roughed out in my head, and I’m eager to start writing those.

JK: Sara, thanks so much for being our guest on What Women Write. We wish you great things as a fiction author, and I can't wait to read the sequel to Learning to Swim.

Learning to Swim is available for preorder at all major and independent booksellers, and will be available to buy next Tuesday, February 22.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received an advanced copy of the book mentioned above gratis. Regardless, I only recommend books I've read and believe will appeal to our readers. I am making this statement in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Pamela interviews our own Julie Kibler

By Pamela

Julie and I met a few years ago when she discovered my personal blog. She contacted me, we met for lunch and became fast friends after realizing we had much in common—similar upbringings and former careers, sons who are musicians, daughters who keep us on our toes and in hysterics, and a love of women’s fiction.

Today I’d like to share with you a little more about Julie—an insight into her fascinating mind and generous heart.

Q: When we met, you were finishing up a story with a deaf main character and I had completed one with a paraplegic character. Both of these ideas just showed up on our pages. Explain how it happened for you.

A: First, thanks for that bit about “fascinating mind and generous heart.”

In my last manuscript, I don’t exactly remember making a decision that this character would be deaf. He just was. In fact, at one point, I decided it would be easier if he were not. I was feeling extremely inadequate about writing a deaf character, considering my experience with the deaf world and Deaf culture (yes, with a capital D) was almost zilch. But it was almost as if I’d given birth and this was my kid and he was deaf. I needed to learn everything I could about deafness to help him succeed. If I’d given birth to a deaf child in real life, I wouldn’t be able to change him or her, so why should I change my character just because it was hard work?

I can’t believe how much I learned about this fascinating subculture, and I barely scratched the surface. I have online friends now I might never have known as a result. You just never know where your writing will take you!

Q: What can you tell us about the manuscript you’ve just completed?

A: Here’s a short blurb from my tentatively titled (because things change) manuscript, ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE: Dorrie and Isabelle make an unlikely pair, but when the black hairstylist's elderly white client persuades her to drive her halfway across the country to a funeral, their journey turns into more than just a road trip. Along the way, 88-year-old Isabelle divulges a story of forbidden love and heartbreak, and Dorrie realizes Isa's journey across seven decades and a thousand miles could shed light on her own parenting struggles and her inability to trust – even when a good man comes along.

It’s been a little terrifying writing these characters, too. They are nothing like me and everything like me. I really enjoy writing point-of-view characters who make me stretch, and I certainly didn’t skimp on choosing these ladies! The story riffs off lore from my own family vault, but we know very little about what truly happened, so it’s 99 percent made up. The photo on the left is my grandmother, and I always wonder if that was her dreaming about what might have been. I think that’s how most stories begin – we writers see something in “real life” that jump-starts our imagination, and off we go.

Q: After that initial seed is planted, where do you go from there?

A: My process has changed with each manuscript. I used to be a dedicated “pantser” – getting an idea and running after it by the seat of my pants, madly, writing furiously, and hoping I’d end up in the right spot with a complete story. Then I began to morph into a “plotter.” I did the smallest amount of planning, just making a list of five or six things that could happen next in my story, but still writing mostly by the seat of my pants.

With my current manuscript, I succumbed to the idea that being a plotter makes perfect sense for me after all! I find that structure keeps me focused, though I still allow myself flexibility where needed.

First, I spent a lot of thought and research time on my story before I ever began putting much on paper, thinking about my characters, my setting, the conflicts, listening to music that felt appropriate for the story, and so on, mainly while I was working on a previous project (which I eventually set aside because it just wasn’t working).

Then, I spent a whole month writing a detailed outline using a modified version of Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method. I created a one-sentence logline for my story, then expanded it to a short paragraph (more or less what you see above in my blurb, though it’s been refined over time), then expanded that to a several-page synopsis, then broke that down into a detailed sketch of each planned chapter.

Last April (2010), I participated in a Backspace writing marathon and completed the first 30 thousand words on the story. Each following month, I wrote another 15 thousand words or so, taking a break during the summer when I was vacationing and then unexpectedly ill. I finished my draft this fall, and now I’m working on revisions. This method worked well for me and I plan to use it again, modifying it as needed. I hope to start a new manuscript this April as the timing seems perfect.

Q: What do you consider to be your strengths as a writer?

A: I think I’m able to come up with unusual premises. I’m good at the mechanics, but I have to be careful not to be too concerned about “the rules” as a result. I can suck the life out of my writing trying to do it “right.”

I’ve been told I’m good at getting into the heads of characters who aren’t like me, which obviously makes me very happy. I’ve been an avid people watcher my whole life. I’m also probably a little too nosy at times when I have conversations with people I don’t even know. But maybe that has made all the difference. I find it almost easier to talk to complete strangers than people I’ve known for years. Must be that journalism degree …

I believe my biggest strength is I just refuse to give up. A few years ago, I took a writing voice class with Barbara O’Neal (formerly Barbara Samuel), who was our guest at What Women Write recently and has been a mentor to me even when she doesn’t know I’m watching. Near the end of the course, she said something that stuck with me. It felt so right, yet I had never really considered it a strength before. In fact, it honestly worried me a little. Barbara said, “It is plain that you have vast, deep ambition, which cannot be underestimated in this business.” She went on to say (and of course, this didn’t hurt my feelings a bit!), “Your writing is very polished and you can do anything you want to do with it – honestly.”

I have held onto those words since – both parts – in the moments when I feel like throwing in the towel and in the moments when I get that fluttery feeling in my tummy that says, “Okay, Julie, I think you might really have something here!”

Q: Many writers admit they always knew they wanted to be a writer. Are you among those?

A: Look at that baby picture of me. Doesn't it look as if I'm already dreaming about my first manuscript?

Seriously, though, I like to think it was always in the back of my mind. I was always a voracious reader and always scribbling in journals or writing terrible poetry or short stories from the time I can remember. Of course, I thought I needed to have a practical plan. After a few unproductive experiments with classes in other fields in college, I majored in English and journalism. My big plan was to work as an editor for a magazine. I graduated from college in Abilene, Texas, and needed to stay there for a few more years while my then-husband finished school. The magazine business was obviously limited in Abilene, so I ended up with a ten-year career as a welfare caseworker – a job that traveled well as we moved frequently.

I eventually transitioned to customer service with an ophthalmic company. While there, I worked on my master’s degree in library and information science. And I mean worked. I was a full-time mother of three, a full-time student, and a full-time customer service representative, all at the same time, for almost two years. It was rough, but somehow, I survived and so did my family!

I thought I’d eventually work in the company’s now defunct research library or – my new “big dream” – as an independent information professional doing research for organizations or individuals. I did do that to a certain extent, but eventually found myself working at my original dream as well. I was editing on a contract basis, and eventually was managing editor of a public policy think tank’s journal.

It took all that time to get back to where I always thought I’d be. In the meantime, I’d started writing fiction in my spare moments (not many). I loved it so much that eventually my husband and I pared our budget down to where I could devote myself completely to writing for a time to see where it would take me.

That’s where I am now, though I do small editing jobs here and there, and I still love it. I hope I never have to get a “real job” (said tongue-in-cheekily) again. I’m so excited I’ve found my passion. It’ll be nice to be paid to do it one day!

Q: How do you think your background in library science has influenced your writing?

A: As far as the writing itself, I have killer research skills, which is obviously helpful. From a publishing standpoint, I have a huge appreciation for librarians and the unbelievable services they provide for authors: promoting their books, fighting for acquisitions in a shaky economy where libraries usually get the leftovers, and following eagerly alongside new technologies as we’ve morphed into the age of electronic books.

I know that when I’m finally published, I better be talking to librarians first, because they will have a critical influence on who gets to read my books.

Q: You’ve been a fan of Backspace for some time. And I joined recently on your recommendation. Tell us a little about what you’ve gained from the site.

A: Backspace has a huge membership (more than 1000 published and unpublished writers and publishing professionals), but the writing forum included with the membership has the feel of a much smaller community (complete with our occasional squabbles – ha!). I know if I have a question that can only be answered by a published author with lots of experience, I can go to Backspace and post that question and within hours, I’ll probably get the answer I need.

It’s also a fun place to commiserate (in a mostly positive way) with other aspiring writers as we keep trudging along the long road to getting published. In a nutshell, Backspace is a microcosm of the world of publishing. If I’m limited on time, I go there to find out what’s happening fast. I believe my membership dues, inexpensive at just $60 a year, have been worth every penny. When I finally get that agent and book deal, I know I’ll have a built-in contingent of fellow authors who will pay forward the help they received in navigating the process and promoting their own books.

Q: A little bird told me you got a Nook Color e-reader for Christmas. Like it? Has it changed how you read?

A: Not particularly, yet, but I feel sure it will. I am in the middle of reading my very first Nook book, Reflection from Diane Chamberlain’s backlist not otherwise available in print. It took me a day or two to get into the groove, find my preferred settings, etc., but now I’m really enjoying reading this way. I can’t tap the page turn fast enough, and don’t feel any different mentally than when I’m reading a print book, though I believe I will always love the feel and smell of a “real” book in my hands. I have enough printed books still in my to-be-read pile that I can’t give them up any time soon, at any rate! I also read the last 70 pages or so of my first draft of ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE last week and loved not being able to edit as I went along.

The Nook is also kind of a mini-tablet, so I have found it useful for quick check-ins on Facebook, which is obviously critical … or not. Also email when I don’t feel like booting up my laptop but want a screen bigger than my tiny (not iPhone) phone. I think I’d eventually like to purchase one of the e-Ink readers, too, because I am not crazy about the glare of the Nook Color screen and would like to be able to read outside whenever I like. The battery life is also not as good, and I got a little panicky when I realized my battery was going to die before I could finish what I wanted to read the other night. The cord is not quite long enough to reach my bed. That would never happen with a print book, right?!

But overall, I’m loving it.

Q: If one of your children came to you and said, “Mom, I want to be a writer, like you,” what would be your advice or reaction?

A: Start now. My son is a gifted songwriter, and I am incredibly proud of him for taking the bull by the horns and jumping in with his whole heart so young. I wish I’d found and followed my dream a long time ago, but I also know that often, life experience is what makes us unique as writers. So I’m okay with the delay, too.

But to them, I’d say, “Start now.”

Thanks, Julie, for taking the time to share your background, goals and current project with us. I can't wait until I'm up to read ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE. I'm sure I'll enjoy it as much as I did the last story you wrote.

And if you're in the Dallas area tonight, stop by Richardson Public Library at 7 p.m. and hear us share the story of how we met, how the blog came to be and other dying-to-know information.

A Conversation with Kristy Kiernan

By Julie

What Women Write welcomes Kristy Kiernan as our honored guest today. Her highly anticipated third novel, BETWEEN FRIENDS released Tuesday.

About Kristy (from website): Kristy was born in Tennessee and raised on the beaches of southwest Florida. She developed a love of reading as a child, devouring Nancy Drews and Trixie Beldens at a disconcerting clip, and graduating to whatever anyone left lying around when she ran out of girl detective stories. She knew she wanted to be a writer at a young age and, with the support of her husband, finally pursued publication in her thirties. Her first novel, CATCHING GENIUS, was published in 2007 by Berkley Books and went on to become a word-of-mouth hit with reading groups. Her second, MATTERS OF FAITH, was an IndieNext Notable Selection and won a bronze medal in the Florida Book Awards. She lives with her husband in southwest Florida and still spends as much time as she can reading on the beach and daydreaming about the story she'll write next.

About BETWEEN FRIENDS, from Penguin: Thanks to modern reproductive technology – and the gift of her friend Cora's eggs – Ali Gutierrez is the mother of a fourteen-year-old daughter. Now, yearning for a second child, Ali asks Cora's permission to use another of the frozen embryos that have been stored away in anticipation of this decision. But Cora has a secret that could not only change Ali's plans for the future, but tear apart her life right now. BETWEEN FRIENDS . . . A provocative new novel about birth, death, and the stuff in between.

After following Kristy's writing career for the last several years and getting to know her on social networking sites, blogs, and the ever-amazing Backspace Writers Forums, I was thrilled to catch up with Kristy this week in the midst of her hectic release schedule. I received an advance review copy of BETWEEN FRIENDS, and I devoured this novel last weekend. I can't recommend Kristy's stories highly enough. Not only is she an accomplished novelist, but she's a down-to-earth gal and funny to boot. I hope you enjoy eavesdropping on our conversation!

www: Kristy, characters with unusual careers or hobbies always make for a more entertaining read, giving the reader a peek into new worlds. Cora, Ali, and Benny each introduced me to new things in BETWEEN FRIENDS. How did you research these characters' unique jobs or pastimes? Are any of their hobbies ones you've pursued yourself?

KK: I'm interested in everything! I want every job out there. So I get to explore all those careers that interest me when I write my books. Cora's wind researcher job came about because I found an old book on wind roses in a used bookstore in a little tiny Florida town, and grew fascinated by the beautiful illustrations. I wondered if I would have pursued something to do with weather if I'd seen the book when I was a kid, and I knew I'd make a character in a future book a wind researcher. And, really, it couldn't have been a better choice for Cora. Ali's music store is a natural extension of my abiding love of music, all kinds of music, and my deep respect of people who are talented enough to make it. And I've known several cops in my life and understand what a stressful job it is, so Benny's job was perfect for him, not just plot-wise, but personality-wise, also.

www: I loved Benny's character, as much as I wanted to shake him a few times! And as a reader, I definitely agree no other career would have done. I assumed from the cover copy that the story revolved around the conflict between Ali and Cora, the adult best friends. I was surprised to discover 14-year-old Letty's point of view represented in BETWEEN FRIENDS. Did you realize from the first that Letty's voice was critical to telling the story, or did her voice simply creep in until you knew she had to speak, too?

KK: I got the voice creep with Letty, for sure! But it happened early, at least, so I didn't have to go back and tear apart the structure to add her in. It just seemed to me that if I was going to address IVF (in vitro fertilization), then I had to address the person created from that. And at 14-going-on-30, I felt she had enough of her own personality to deserve a voice. I did, however, write her sections in third-person, so she's at a little bit of a remove from the main story of Cora and Ali.

www: I loved Letty's character, too, as much as I wanted to shake HER a few times! (In fact, there was a lot of character shaking I wanted to do. I think as a writer, that's something you're happy to hear. It means your characters became real to the reader.) Speaking of Letty, one plotline in BETWEEN FRIENDS required another teen's mother to access her daughter's email and MySpace accounts to find information to help Ali rescue Letty from a bad situation. Ali was surprised at how much access the other mother had. She reconsidered her own theory about the amount of privacy Letty was entitled to as a teen. This happens to be one of my soapboxes. I require my girls to follow the age guidelines on social networking sites, keep me updated on any they join, and notify me whenever they change passwords. They know I can "spot check" their email or any account when I feel like I need to. It's sad to say, but many parents might be horrified to discover what their children are doing online. Kids, vacillating as Letty does between adult and child, sometimes from minute to minute, often don't have the foresight or experience to understand that online activity can dangerous, and that once there, it's a virtual permanent record even if they hit the delete key. I'm curious about your thoughts on this. What led you to include this scenario in your story?

KK: I think if I were a parent today, I'd have spyware on my kid's computer. Isn't that awful? But there is so much out there they don't have the emotional maturity to deal with yet. Heck, there are things I've run into online that I don't have the emotional maturity to deal with! And, of course, they think they do. I have always believed that no matter how involved you are in your kids' lives, there is plenty you don't know, and some of those secrets are okay and important for them to keep. But some are dangerous, and those lines aren't as apparent online as they are in real life, especially to teenagers. I'm so glad we didn't have the Internet when I was fifteen. I'm so trusting that I think I would have gotten into some trouble. Oh, and the permanence of it all! That one photo taken when just being silly, that conversation or comment thread that gets out of hand, that Facebook rant ... it's all, always there. And what kid really understands how that can affect their future? Yes, a scary world, and I don't blame any parents for their attempts to monitor their kid's Internet usage.

www: Kristy, in BETWEEN FRIENDS, as well as in your previous novels, you've done an excellent job of portraying the actions and emotions of people who aren't necessarily like you. I was particularly struck by a scene where now 15-year-old Letty allowed her mother to hold her hand as though she were a little girl again. It felt completely genuine, and I've had moments like that. I suspect a tear or two even slipped out while I was reading. Similarly, Cora's feelings about her illness seem spot on, though I've never experienced anything like PKD (polycystic kidney disease). What or who do you draw from to help you see through the eyes of characters who may have different family structures or life-changing situations than you've experienced?

KK: You know, a lot of people ask this, and I just don't have a great answer. My mother always said that when I was a kid, I was always sticking up for the "little guy," the picked on kids. I was a pretty quiet kid until I thought someone was being treated unfairly, no matter who it was, and then I'd get all ninja on whoever was being mean to them. So I think I've always been overly empathetic. I just close my eyes and imagine how they'd feel, I do (I know this sounds weird) become them. If one of my characters cries, chances are I cried just before I wrote the scene because I put myself in their place, with their life experiences and current situation firmly intact within me. It takes me a while to change points of view. I tend to take a break when I switch POV so I can let go of the last person and be the new person. Either that or it's magic. Take your pick.

www: I pick both! And I think I was that kid, too – both the picked-on and the one who went ninja when I saw it happen to others. Maybe it's all part of a writer's DNA. And after reading my third Kristy Kiernan novel, your author voice is becoming more and more recognizable to me, too, by the way. Voice can be such an intangible, incomprehensible idea to convey. I love how your characters call each other honey, and I can just hear you calling your own friends honey with the southern drawl you're bound to have after growing up in Tennessee and Florida. Have you become more comfortable in recognizing your own voice with each novel you've written? When you go back and read your work now, do those little trademark mannerisms or the ways you put words together jump out at you, or is it as much a mystery as ever?

KK: Oh, how funny! Yes, I do call my friends honey. All the time. I'm naturally affectionate toward the people I love, heck, to people I barely know, and I think that comes through in my characters. I have grown more comfortable with my "voice." I'm more comfortable carving out a space in which I just write what and how I want without any outside noise, without worrying about what anyone might think about it. And aside from reading one or two passages out loud at events, I don't go back and reread my work, so nothing has jumped out at me. I have noticed that my characters tend to drink a lot of wine though ...

www: ... and your Facebook followers know you never drink wine. (Ahem.) Gosh, Kristy, you're practically a seasoned author now with the release of your third novel. How was producing novel three different from the others?

KK: Ah, the third one has been interesting. I know everyone compares their books to their kids, but it has been a little similar for me. I am much more relaxed on my third one. I'm all Zen now. I let it run around without a diaper, play in traffic, get on the back of motorcycles with inappropriate boys. I'm even considering buying it short shorts and a pack of cigarettes.

www: And I bet you never washed its pacifier off after the paci fell on the floor either. I mean, I never did that with my third kid. Well, rarely. Kristy, last but not least. Wait. Maybe most important of all. I've heard it said that every novelist is writing to answer "one big question," and that question shows up in their writing through theme, conflict, characters, setting, and so on. Have you discovered your "one big question?" Would you care to share, or do you have any supporting or conflicting thoughts on this idea?

KK: I think I'm obviously fascinated by the balance of power and control in long-term relationships, parent/child, husband/wife, friends. The yin and yang. Push and pull. I think it's related to empathy again. I want everyone to really understand everyone else and live happily ever after. I'm such a sucker.

www: Well, you are one talented sucker, and we're so pleased you found the time to visit with us here at What Women Write. Thank you! We wish you lots more amazing novels and your own happily ever after.

BETWEEN FRIENDS is available now at all of your favorite retailers, but why not give IndieBound a look and support your local independent bookseller.

Short Stories

By Julie

I'm experimenting with short stories this year. I've never been crazy about writing them. My writing style doesn't generally fit most literary magazines or journals. Most appear to seek gritty, avant-garde material, which are two words I'd rarely use to describe my writing. I had the pleasure of seeing a short memoir I wrote published by Perigee in 2008, and was flattered by comments from their emeritus editor that the memoirs published in that issue were what she'd been seeking but had not seen for ages. But that piece was one of a few flashes of literary light in what I'd consider a generally mainstream brain.

Nonetheless, I attempt to write short stories at least for the sake of honing my craft in a brief, concentrated format. (The key word, often, for me being brief, as that's not my strong suit! Oh, you've noticed?!) Sometimes I even submit them. I've heard a rumor having publishing credits in literary magazines can make an agent or editor sit up and take notice.

In 2010, I've participated two months in a row in the (amazing-and-worth-every-penny-of-the-seriously-inexpensive-annual-dues) Backspace forums short story contest. Writing a story within the confines of a theme and word count has been both fun and challenging. In February, I worked not only from the Backspace contest's theme -- "Age Matters," writing from the first-person perspective of narrator older than 70 or younger than 7 -- but also that of NPR's Three-Minute Fiction contest. NPR posted a photo as a prompt for flash fiction under 600 words.

I'm learning a few things from applying myself to a regular practice of writing short stories.

Writing a short story gives you permission to write something you wouldn't ordinarily try.

Writing from the perpective of a 70-year-old man was something I'd never done before. I enjoyed it, and from a voice perspective, I believe I nailed it fairly well. Now I feel confident I could do this in longer fiction if needed.

Writing a short story gives you permission to dwell on the details.

When you're writing a novel, you often need to move along in your first draft -- get the story down and then go back and work out the setting notes and so on in the revision process, which may occur months or even years later. When you're writing a short story, you can often move quickly to the enjoyable task of finessing your setting, characters, and language. While the story is new and fresh in your mind, you get to play with the embellishments.

Writing a short story forces you to get to the point.

Writing a story complete in six-hundred words (a little more than two double-spaced pages) was no easy task for me. In fact, I started with a draft twice that long for a story that took place in a matter of a minute. Condensing my narrative into half the length forced me to take a scalpel to my wordiness. No unneccessary word could remain. I needed to say in one sentence what I'd originally taken a full paragraph to convey. Some of the information, the reader didn't need at all. It was for me as writer, and could be cut in the final draft. I also learned from the feedback where I'd left the reader too much in the dark.

Now it's your turn, readers.

Do you write short stories as a tool for improving your craft? What have you learned in the process?

Photo credit: Creative Commons license from B. Zedan's Flickr photostream

New Books! New Movie!

By Julie

I'm using my scheduled post this week to plug a few fellow women writers whose books have released recently, are about to release, or have other exciting events happening.

I've been a member of Backspace, The Writer's Place, an immeasurably valuable forum for writers, for the last year and a half. Besides simply soaking up information shared about the craft and business of writing by Backspace's more than one thousand members, I've had the pleasure of celebrating along with fellow writers (like Therese Walsh) as they sign with agents, get book deals, and count down the minutes to "release day" -- the day their labors of love finally appear on a bookstore shelf.

With far too many to mention here, a few recent book launches have stood out for me.

Naseem Rahkah's The Crying Tree released last summer, but it didn't make it to the top of my to-be-read pile until the first week of 2010. In an interesting bit of timing, this week the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association honored Naseem with one of their five 2010 Book Awards for this stunning novel. The Crying Tree isn't an easy read, subject-wise, exploring the fallout after a family's young son is murdered and his killer is sentenced to the death penalty, but I couldn't put it down.

A few other debut novels I haven't read yet are hitting the shelves this week and next.

Today, Melanie Benjamin's Alice I Have Been released to a flurry of media activity – an interview with Melanie on her local WGN station and a mention in USA Today. This fictionalized account of Lewis Carroll's muse sounds intriguing, not to mention Melanie is just a Very Nice Person. :) Rumor has it she'll pop up on our blog sometime in the near future for an interview with Kim. I can't wait to get my hands on Alice I Have Been. Melanie's signature on Backspace (and a line from the story, I assume) hooked me long ago: "But oh my dear, I am tired of being Alice in Wonderland. Does it sound ungrateful?"

EDIT: Larramie has a giveaway of Alice I Have Been if you comment today by 7 p.m. on the Divining Wand!

Next week, another Backspace author, Randy Susan Meyers, debuts with The Murderer's Daughters. This domestic drama sounds like another difficult, yet compelling read. (Hmm, I must like that combination! Gee, maybe that's why I write the stuff, too.) Bestselling author Jenna Blum said: "... Meyers explores the bond between two sisters clinging to each other in the aftermath of their mother's murder and their father's imprisonment ... and how their bond is tested by the reappearance of the past."

Backspace isn't the only thing driving my reading, however.

Last night I finished reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, chosen because it showed up on so many best of 2009 lists. I loved the mesmerizing story and writing (and absolutely recommend it), but I have to say the doom, gloom, and despair left me needing a little mental lift. So I dove immediately into the December 29 release of one of my favorite teachers and mentors, author Barbara O'Neal (formerly writing as Barbara Samuel and Ruth Wind).

I was confident before I started reading The Secret of Everything, but reassured after the first fifty pages or so, that Barbara's tale of a hiking tour guide who returns to her childhood home in (fictional) Los Ladrones, New Mexico, to face her unremembered past will break my heart a few times, but leave me with a bright, satisfying glimmer of hope in the end. With another gorgeous setting and her usual dose of unique characters and situations, Barbara will weave a spell over me I won't want to let go of soon, though I'm sure I'll read The Secret of Everything far too quickly. (Caution: This one's a little racy!)

Last, but not least, long-time blog and Internet buddy Carleen Brice's Orange Mint and Honey is now a movie! It airs ...

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!

Yes, football haters everywhere, unite and throw your own viewing party! Sins of the Mother, starring Jill Scott (singer and No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency star) and Nicole Behairie, airs on Lifetime February 7 at 8 p.m. CST. (And re-airs on February 25 at midnight, I believe.) Carleen's even throwing a contest with prizes for some lucky group of viewers.

EDIT: Lifetime listened to its viewers and graciously movied the airing of Sins of the Mother to February 21! Good news for Carleen, but bad news for those of us wanting an excuse to skip the Bowl. :)

Congratulations and best wishes to these authors!

Wouldn't you agree that all these exciting opportunities for reading and movie viewing leave no excuse for being bored with the usual ho hum or winter doldrums this month and next? Get thee to a bookstore.

Photo credit / Nouveaustar, Creative Commons license