by Lynne | Jan 5, 2015 | Uncategorized
A writer friend asked me whether it was really a good idea to pay a professional editor to read her manuscript. My immediate response was yes, but the question made me pause and reflect on my personal experiences.
I have had all four of my novels edited by pros. In addition I participate in a read and critique group (every week now for about 15 years.) I won’t go into critique groups here since I previously blogged about that subject. As to professional editors, here are my thoughts.
There is huge value to editors who “copy” edit, that is, they read for spelling, grammar, syntax, etc. You always miss something: a comma where it doesn’t belong, the incorrect use of a semicolon. In terms of the broader picture: the plot, characters, structure, tension, conflict, on and on, the pro can be very helpful. . . or not.
In my Triangle book, the professional editor I hired was so intrigued with the historic story that her suggestions would have made me totally change the book. It would have become a historic mystery rather than a historic mystery that is solved today with modern technology. She had her own vision for the book. But who was writing this?
The editor I hired for my Civil War book, however, was extremely helpful. He gave me an idea for a dynamite ending that I hadn’t even considered. It totally changed the story for the better.
Before you consider hiring a pro, however, do your own self-editing. Believe it or not, there is a lot you can do to improve your writing before it gets the going-over by someone else. Some suggestions:
Edit in small sections at a time. If possible, reread the section before and then edit the current
5 to 10 pages. Also, read aloud (or to your dog or cat.) I can’t emphasize enough how important this is. You’d be surprised what you hear that you didn’t think you wrote. Dialogue may sound stilted, tension weak, setting inappropriate. Often I will come away from my reading out loud thinking, ugh, did I write that?
Some things to look for when you’re self-editing:
- Do you want to turn the page?
- Did you stumble over awkward phrases or clunky words when you read aloud?
- Were you confused by your own plot twists?
- Did punctuation mess up your reading?
- Were your characters boring, too flawed (yes, that’s possible) or totally unbelievable (unless you write Bourne thrillers)?
- Were there plot inconsistencies ie: a character appeared after she was murdered?
- Were there setting inconsistencies? It was hot as Hades one day, snowing the next?
- Did you get your facts right? Very important if you want authenticity.
You can be your own best editor. But, just to be sure — reread, rewrite, read aloud. And again x 3. Now hire a professional for the final read.
by Lynne | Dec 28, 2014 | Uncategorized
In 2000, Literary Agent, Noah Lukeman wrote “The First Five Pages.” In this thin little gem on writing, he said that if the first five pages didn’t hold the reader, it was bye bye book.
Before you get to the first five pages, however, you must be grabbed by the title. When I browse a bookstore (what?) or surf online for a new book, the title is what captures my attention. (The book cover design is also important, but I’ll leave that for another blog.)
Let’s peruse the market to see what I mean. Some book titles say it loud and clear and leave you with no doubt what the book is about. David McCullough is a good one for non-fiction: “1776,” “John Adams,” “The Johnstown Flood.” No question about what the subject of each book is. Even novels can be pretty straight forward – the title hints at the story, although often more subtly. “Interview with a Vampire” is just that. “The Affair,” “Hostage,” even “The Patriot” gives you a hint about the novel’s plot.
Some books on writing use clever titles to attract you, but you still know what kind of advice they’re going to offer. “Eats, Shoots & Leaves” by Lynne Truss and “i never metaphor i didn’t like” by Dr. Mardy Grothe both use humor and a play on words to get their subjects across.
Humorous titles are a great gimmick to attract people to your book, but only if the book lives up to the humor. For those Catholic readers, this may resonate: “Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?” by John Powers. I’m not even going to touch that one. How about this: “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong,” by James Loewen. Lies about anything always pique the imagination.
Here are a few titles that caught my attention while I was researching my books. “The Story the Soldiers Wouldn’t Tell: Sex in the Civil War” by Thomas P. Lowry, M.D. Another universal topic of fascination – sex.
When I was researching my book on the Salem witch trials, I ran across this one and laughed out loud. “Puritans at Play: Leisure and Recreation in Colonial New England” by Bruce Daniels. Kind of an oxymoron. Still, I bought it and the book was incredibly interesting and helpful. Had the title been just the second part without “Puritans at Play,” I’m not sure I would have noticed it.
There are the titles that use seductive words like “code,” “enigma,” “paradigm,” “dilemma” to proclaim a mystery or a conspiracy is hiding between the jacket covers. Think “The DaVinci Code” by Dan Brown.
Other techniques. Robert Bloch’s :”Psycho” hits you in the face with images of a mad man or woman, while Baldacci’s “Absolute Power” makes you think – who has the power, why, how, what does he do with it? As you read, the title becomes clearer and clearer until, whack, it too, hits you in the face.
Erik Larson’s “Devil in the White City” is a beautiful play on words. Black against white, good against evil. In Laura Hillenbrand’s “Unbroken, “she captures the spirit of one man, a World War II hero, in one powerful word.
My first book, “The Triangle Murders” began its life as “Tenement.” When my critique group suggested I come up with something a little more mystery-genre rather than literary since the story is about murder, arson, and foul play. So, I went with a simple “murders” using the name of the factory that formed the backdrop, The Triangle.
When I worked on my Civil War mystery, myriad plot elements fought for the title: different time periods, history, forensics, photography- both civil war and digital, massive conspiracies, and so on. It took a while, but “Time Exposure” was the result.
My third book, “Deadly Provenance,” was originally titled “Provenance” and posed a challenge. It’s about the Nazi confiscation of art and a missing Van Gogh painting (in actuality still missing.) I thought “Provenance” was perfect, until it dawned on me that not everyone would be familiar with the word. They might think it was a city in Rhode Island or the end of Cape Cod. Good grief. Plus the word might conjure up “art” but not necessarily mystery or murder. So I changed the title.
My latest title, “Pure Lies” is about the witch trials of Salem in 1692. “Pure” in this case represents Puritans. I thought this was rather ingenious. What do you think?
by Lynne | Dec 20, 2014 | Uncategorized
The Christmas Truce
When it started, World War I was predicted to last only a few weeks. (The same was true of the Civil War, by the way.) Instead, by December of 1914, WWI had already claimed nearly a million lives. In fact, over fifteen million died in a war that dragged on for four miserable years.
But a remarkable thing happened on December 24, 1914. The front fell silent except for the singing of Silent Night. A truce! There are many examples of truces during wars, but none as famous as this one. The Christmas Truce of 1914.
In the Ypres region of Belgium on Christmas Eve, guns stopped, leaving a deathly silence across the fields. Then suddenly the British watched in astonishment as Germans began to set tiny trees along their trench lines. Soon a familiar tune with unfamiliar words carried across No Man’s Land, the battered and desolate space between the enemies. Silent Night. Stille Nacht.
Soon the British were singing along with the Germans. Soldiers on both sides crawled out of their trenches to meet in the middle and greet their enemy. They exchanged cigarettes and souvenirs. Perhaps a drink or two. And they collected their dead and wounded, carrying them back to their respective sides.
Peace for the day. Only one day because the next day they were back killing each other. Is there something wrong with this picture?
The story of the Christmas Truce came to my attention after reading the non-fiction, To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918, by Adam Hochschild, an amazing story of WWI. I highly recommend. http://www.amazon.com/End-All-Wars-Rebellion-1914-1918/dp/B008PIC0T8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356046840&sr=1-1&keywords=to+end+all+wars
I’ll leave you with this thought. If Christmas can bring together mortal enemies for a day, why not for a week, a month, a year or longer? Or forever?
I hope you click on the youtubes below. They will make you sad and happy but most of all hopeful. Wishing you a happy holiday and a prosperous and healthy New Year.
Belleau Wood: Christmas Truce by Garth Brooks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy9lg0aAhlE
Christmas Truce 1914, Music with captions to tell the story. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsCpLMPI7IY
Behind the Christmas Story: The Christmas Truce http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgLcvjA8NDk
Christmas Truce of 1914. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p05E_ohaQGk
by Lynne | Dec 15, 2014 | Uncategorized
If you’re like me and have been writing for long time, you’ll probably recognize the signs of restlessness and dissatisfaction.
Here’s how it goes. You:
- Develop a premise for a new book
- Research
- Write the book
- Re-write the book
- Edit the book
- Re-write the book
- Edit the book
- Complete the final re-write
- Try to get published
- Get it published, one way or another
- Market it
- Sell a respectable number of copies
- Begin again
In each case above, there is a warm glow at the end of each, then . . . what? It’s not enough. Never enough. You’ve created a book from scratch? How wonderful is that? But why can’t you sell it? Why are you not on the top ten Bestseller List? Why, why, why?
Then there are those moments when you think it’s all worth it. That’s how I felt when I recently got my first review of PURE LIES:
”Lynne Kennedy’s new book is a finely crafted mix of classical murder mystery, high thriller and majestic historical fiction. From the start, I loved heroine Maggie Thornhill, despite her narrow judgment of a religion she didn’t understand. And I grew to hate the villains, past and present, so well-drawn that one fears they will visit the front door. Lynne’s trademark attention to historical detail is key to the working of this great story, or should I say “stories”, because Pure Lies provides two thrillers for the price of one. The narrative of seventeenth century Salem gives one the feeling that the author has a time machine stashed in a closet. The sights, sounds, smells and feel of that cursed town come to life under the author’s talented craft. No less compelling is the parallel story that unfolds in modern Washington, D.C.s universities and museums. If you like a good mystery, historical fiction, or just a fun read, Pure Lies is a must.”
Sigh. Maybe it is worth it after all.
by Lynne | Dec 7, 2014 | Uncategorized
One of the most difficult tasks for writers, but also one of the most important is the back (jacket) cover text. It must be brief but intriguing, succinct but riveting. For discussion sake, here is the back cover text for my latest book, Pure Lies, a mystery about the Salem Witch Trials. It is the same text I used for the ABNA (Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award) contest “pitch” and it got me through the first two rounds. Let me know what you think or share your own back cover copy.
“Two women, separated by three centuries, are connected by a legacy of greed, depravity and deceit–a legacy which threatens to make them both victims of the Salem witch trials.
1692, Salem, Massachusetts Born in a time and place of fierce religious fervor, 16-year old Felicity Dale has only endless church meetings and the drudgery of chores to look forward to. When her friends begin accusing neighbors of witchcraft, she fears the devil is in Salem. By chance, however, she discovers that the accusations of her “afflicted” friends are false. What had begun as a youthful diversion has been twisted through seduction and blackmail by powerful men into a conspiracy for profit. Nineteen people will pay with their lives.
Today, Washington, D.C. Maggie Thornhill is a renowned digital photographer in Georgetown who possesses a passion for history. As her Ph.D. dissertation, Maggie takes on a project to electronically archive the original documents from the Salem witch trials. She observes discrepancies in the handwriting of the magistrate’s signature on certain land deed transfers — land that belonged to the witches. When a professor studying the documents is murdered, she begins to suspect that the trials and hangings were a result of simple mortal greed not religious superstition.”
by Lynne | Nov 30, 2014 | Uncategorized
This is a reprint of an earlier blog of mine that hit a nerve with many writers. The dilemma of spending time marketing your books vs. writing your books clearly resonated and drew lots of responses. I’ve tried to practice what I preached in that post and have cut down my time on social media. Some. Yet, here I am writing something that is not my next book. How effective is this use of my time?
There are two sides to this new dilemma of blogging. Both sides take time from writing your book. The first is writing blogs. The second is reading them — other writers’ blogs, that is. Writing them takes a great deal more time. Is it worth it? Actually, yes. It’s difficult to know whether my blogs drive sales, but I do know it drives people to my web site. I can measure the number of hits on the actual blog. That’s a good thing.
The other positive about writing blogs is that I actually learn from my own blogs. When I write about characters or scene or POV, I am focusing on the good, the bad and the mediocre. I am reading and re-reading other writers’ to see what works and what doesn’t, which characters shine and which fall flat, which scenes and settings have atmosphere or how point of view affects the story.
One of my blogs was about how to use animals to give your characters character. The topic forced me to think about my animals. How does my character interact with her dog or his parrot? What does it say about them if they leave them alone for days at a time, or if they are constantly worried about them? Great device for character development.
Another blog dealt with the forensics of fire. The fire took place in 1911. What was arson forensics like then? The blog helped me organize the details of my research so I could determine what was missing in the mystery.
So, the answer to the first side of this dilemma, is yes, writing blogs can be very valuable to the writer. After all, it is writing. However, I have no hard evidence that it drives book sales. As to the second part of the conundrum, reading blogs can also be a valuable use of time. There are some blogs I find extremely helpful. A good blog has a message that is of particular interest to me as a writer. I probably won’t read a blog about cookbook recipes, auto mechanics or pit bull fighting.
I will definitely read blogs on forensics, crime-solving, digital photography, art, and many historical subjects. Once the topic is of interest to me, I will take the time to read a well-written blog (yes, that’s important), and hopefully, one with a sense of humor. I will often share those with writer friends. Here are a few I can share right now:
http://barbararogan.com/blog/?p=711#! Specifically on how to create a good scene.
http://writersforensicsblog.wordpress.com/ Great, knowledgeable forensics Q&A and more.
http://www.blogher.com/bloggers-beware-you-can-get-sued-using-photos-your-blog-my-story – How not to get sued as a writer using photographs. Handy info.
For the moment my dilemma is solved. I’ll keep writing weekly blogs as long as folks keep reading them. I’ll keep reading blogs that can help me write better. In the end, I hope both of these activities will help drive book sales. Please share your thoughts.
I have had all four of my novels edited by pros. In addition I participate in a read and critique group (every week now for about 15 years.) I won’t go into critique groups here since I previously blogged about that subject. As to professional editors, here are my thoughts.
Some things to look for when you’re self-editing:
