First reader and other fears

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The second draft of The Next Novel is being read right now by Dan Smetanka, a wonderful free lance editor in L.A. Am I nervous? You bet! This is its first public airing. In preparation for the next revision — the third draft — I'm rereading it myself. I've been dreading doing this, but now that I'm a good 100 pages in, I feel more at ease.

Not that there aren't problems, both big and small. I've a lot of work ahead. I marvel at the writers who are able to create a coherent novel in a year or two.

The small problems are almost amusing. Who was the author who advised his daughter, also a writer, to "always make sure that the moon is in the right place"? This is basically saying: attend to the details. I had to laugh: one scene opens in spring and in the course of a few hours moves into fall and then winter. It's a good thing Dan has a sense of humor.

Travel research tips for writers of historical fiction

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I recently received this e-mail from a reader: 

I am working on a manuscript of historical fiction and plan on traveling to the sites associated with my tale (Wales).  I was wondering if you had any advice you could share as to how you visit the places in your stories.  How do you absorb/experience them in a way that you take into your writing? Given your current travels in France, I thought this would be a particularly opportune time to ask.  

Because of the travel complications this spring (due to volcanic ash), I had to consider the possibility of finishing the novel I'm working on now without travel research. I'd done quite a bit of research on my last trip, and I thought it might be possible to manage, given how much is available on-line.

Wrong!

We'll be back home in Canada in a few days, and once my head clears, I'll dive into writing the third draft. I'm already dizzy with the realization of how much will need to be changed due to the "on-the-ground" research I've done.

When I started travel research for the first of the Josephine B. Trilogy, I was overcome with the feeling of presence. "Josephine walked here." Experiencing a character's tangible reality was important to me ... and it continues to be, for every book I write. Having a feel for a character's physical world gives me a certain authority when writing.

But also, for me, it's a lot about logistics: how did she get from here to there? What were the dimensions of her world?

In other words, facts of the type that are difficult to convey in print.

I also find that there can be wonderful books available in museums that are difficult to discover otherwise. I always check the children's section, as well. This trip, I found a wonderful illustrated children's book on the building of Versailles. Since Versailles was in the process of being built during the period I'm writing about, this was a find!

Practical tools

On the practical side, I find it important to wear a (not very flattering) "fanny pack" with all my tools easily at hand: camera (well charged), pencil, notepad, map, money, etc.

This trip I discovered that a recording device is indispensable. (Sometimes I'll have a camera in one hand, and the recording device in the other.)

I photograph display information that I can then put into Evernote (which then become searchable). I photograph street signs and spots on a map so that I know, once home, what the photographs following are of.

Creating a special map with Google map has been a very helpful on-line tool for keeping track of all the sites relevant to this novel.

I hope this helps! I'd love to hear from others about their travel research tips.

Forging historical fiction when facts differ — or are scarce

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In response to a question on a historical fiction list about forging fiction from little fact (or from differing "facts"), historical author Elizabeth Chadwick posted this wonderful answer:

You do as much background research as you can, both the narrow and the broad, into the person, their lifestyle, and the times in which they lived.

If there's not a lot available about them, then you research the people who interacted with them — their lifestyles, and the people who in turn interacted with them. 

You dig and then you dig some more. This way you build up the layers in the picture and get a feel for what's right and what's not. 

... If you do the research in enough depth, your story will have the integrity that does history, you, and the reader justice. 

How you utilize your research in the novel is down to your personal skills as a writer. Both story and history need to come alive for the reader and shine. No one can be 100% accurate and as writers our imagination is perhaps the most essential tool in our kit, but integrity matters I think.

If you are writing about someone who actually lived, then you keep as close to their personality as you can and portray their world as it actually was — or as close as you can get, and that includes attitudes as well as furniture. If your characters are imaginary then the same. That's my take on it anyway - for what it's worth :- )

(The emphasis is my own.)

I'm in Paris now, doing research. So much rewriting ahead! As always, I find on-the-ground research essential.

*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/

Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/

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I get wonderful emails from readers, but this charming account especially moved me.

Dear Ms Gulland

Some people have said that I should not make the following admission but I
have, on a number of occasions, fallen foul of female acquaintances when I
have occasionally admitted that, as a male baby boomer privately educated in
the UK, I tend to overlook books by female authors. I can only be truthful,
and have always put it down to education and "conditioning" by the boys'
school I attended, along with its male-dominated reading lists.

On Friday last I found myself in the Sydney City Library and decided, on the
spur of the moment, to borrow the first book by a female author that my eye
landed on. It was "The Many Lives...." and I have not been able to put it
down over the weekend. It has turned out to be one of the most enjoyable
"penances" I have ever received.

You will probably be disappointed that I did not buy the book, but I do
intend to buy the sequels.

Thank you.

Stephen Baddeley

When asked permission to quote his letter on this blog, Stephen added:

My city library does have the balance of the trilogy on the shelf, but only the third book was available when I checked. It is ever thus with lending libraries, so I reserved the 2nd part of the trilogy and naturally took possession of the Last Great Dance ...

Last weekend I couldn't wait to follow the sequence and started the third book regardless. Apart from work and golf, I haven't put it down, and I have had to explain to fellow golfers why I have been reading these books at the club before each round, rather than gathering with them on the veranda for a drink before the round!

My imagined reader is a woman, but I like to think that my novels appeal to men, as well.

Thank you, Stephen!

Joyce Carol Oates on "biographically fueled fiction"

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Fact-based fiction? Biographical fiction? What does one call fiction that is based on the life of a historical character. I like Joyce Carol Oates' expression: "biographically fueled fiction."

Here's what she had to say about it in a review of a biographical novel about Emily Dickinson in the New York Review of Books:

In these exemplary works of biographically fueled fiction it's as if the postmodernist impulse to rewrite and revise the past has been balanced by a more Romantic wish to reenter, renew, and revitalize the past: not to suggest an ironic distance from its inhabitants but to honor them by granting them life again, including always the stumbling hesitations, misfires, and despair of actual life....

Just a snippet ... I'm packing for France: research with wine and cheese!

Going public: Marketing 301

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I very much like this blog post by Robin Black on book promotion, especially:

Whatever your natural inclinations, as an author with a book to sell, you are going to have to become (or fake being) outgoing, highly sociable and downright thrilled to be stared at by—if you’re very, very lucky—a crowd. Not to mention grateful, which is actually very important.   

Related posts: 

Net marketing for Ludites: Part 1

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 2 (Cracking the Social Net)

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 3 (Blog? Website? Both?)

Net Marketing for Ludites: Part 4 (Friends & Followers)

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 5 (The Book Trailer)

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 6 (Your Fans)

*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/

Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/ 

Hola, Hello, Bonjour!

Here is my latest newsletter: 

http://bit.ly/SGnewsletter

And here is the correction I immediately had to send out regarding the date of my Paris reading. (I've also added some details about it.): 

http://bit.ly/Parisreading

Come join me in Paris -- why not? 

Contract love

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I love my Canadian publisher, HarperCollins Canada. After a winter away, I came home to a pile of mail, including the contract for The Next Novel. I don't get a new book out that often, so I forget how striking the first page of their contracts is. It reads:

We believe that a book's most precious element is its creator; that the publisher's role is to produce a work of lasting value and offer it to the public with confidence and commitment; that the author's opinions on publication matters are relevant and should be heard; and that quality should be as much of the essence as timeliness in this agreement. Our contract expresses these beliefs. 

See?

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 6 (Your Fans)

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This is the last in this basic Net-Marketing series. There is, I'm afraid, more and more that one can do. (Blog tours, for one: see the link below.) But all that can evolve later, and only if you wish. Basically, what you've done, is set up a way to catch people's attention, and, hopefully, in the process, attracted them to your book. You've got fans. 

"Fans" is kind of a blown-up way to say that you've got enthusiastic readers: and they are a precious bunch. They are your core support. Treat them well. Thank them when they re-blog a post or a tweet, answer every email. 

Set up a Google Search so that any time your book is mentioned, you will be notified, and, should you wish, you can respond. (Signing off, of course, with links: to your book, to your website, etc.) 

Make it easy for people to reach out to you. Put your website address on your next book. Gather their emails and send out newsletters. 

Everyone in publishing talks about the importance of platform. You have to build it, bit by bit. I don't know who said it, but platform, in essence, is the place from where you speak to your readers. "Build it, and they will come."

Related links:

How to set up a Blog Tour

Net marketing for Ludites: Part 1

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 2 (Cracking the Social Net)

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 3 (Blog? Website? Both?)

Net Marketing for Ludites: Part 4 (Friends & Followers)

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 5 (The Book Trailer)

How to promote your book without giving up writing

A wonderful article by Margaret Atwood on discovering the Twitterverse and other foreign realms: How I learned to Love Twitter.

*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/ 

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 5 (The Book Trailer)

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Writers these days make (or have made) "trailers" for their books. These are put up on YouTube and on web sites. Here are a few examples:

Claude & Camile; A Novel of Monet by Stephanie Cowell


The Crispin Guest Medieval Noir Series


Mary Sharratt's, Daughters of the Witching Hill

 Some authors get a lot of Net attention by creating a funny video. This one continues to get quite a lot of "buzz":

This emotional author video got over 1.5 million viewers and created a bestseller for author Kelly Corrigan:

Videos don't have to be expensive. With George's knowledge of film, his natural wit and Hollywood background, I imagine that he could come up with something catchy and off-the-wall.

Related posts:

Net marketing for Ludites: Part 1

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 2 (Cracking the Social Net)

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 3 (Blog? Website? Both?)

Net Marketing for Ludites: Part 4 (Friends & Followers)

How to promote your book without giving up writing

A wonderful article by Margaret Atwood on discovering the Twitterverse and other foreign realms: How I learned to Love Twitter.

Next up: Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 6 (Your Fans)

 *****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr: http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/

Net Marketing for Ludites: Part 4 (Friends & Followers)

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You've got your sites set up and you're sending out pithy thoughts. You're cooking! But who is reading them? Your "followers" (on Tumblr), your "friends" on Facebook and MySpace. With luck, maybe some of your followers and friends will re-blog your posts, in which case they go out to all their friends and followers, etc. etc. etc.


But basically, you need to have some friends and followers of your own ... and there's nothing more humiliating or infantile than having to send out "Will you be my friend?" messages hither and yon.


What you can do: follow and befriend others, and then maybe they'll follow you back. Troll the friends and followers of the hip and famous (or simply like-minded) for possibilities. Some sites allow you to upload your email contacts to see who might be on the sites: this is a good way to create a base. MySpace allows you to find people on-site by age, sex, marital status (creeps!)...but also by interests. You might be able to hone in on people who might be interested in your subject.


One word of caution: only go looking for friends and followers after you've posted some interesting posts and all your sites look inviting.


Also: limit it to 20 minutes at a time. It's too demeaning!

Related posts:

Net marketing for Ludites: Part 1

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 2 (Cracking the Social Net)

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 3 (Blog? Website? Both?)

How to promote your book without giving up writing

A wonderful article by Margaret Atwood on discovering the Twitterverse and other foreign realms: How I learned to Love Twitter.

Next up: Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 5 (The Book Trailer) 


*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr:  http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 3 (Blog? Website? Both?)

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Does an author really have to have a website and/or a blog? Websites can be expensive to set up, and even more expensive to maintain. I suggest setting up a simple blog that serves as a website. I use Blogger, but WordPress is another good one (possibly better). Both are free.


If you don't want to set it up yourself, I know that there are people trained to quickly set up WordPress websites, and no doubt on Blogger as well. Once set up, you can easily maintain it on your own.


The advantage of a website/blog is that it serves as a place for all your information. It's where media will go if they want to contact you. It's were readers first go when they want to know more about you, or to email you. It's where you announce your events, post your videos, your reviews, your stuff. 


Here's an example of a WordPress Blog-style Website:

http://andyremic.wordpress.com/

The other important function of a website is that it can serve as a fan e-mail collector: the basis of a newsletter mailing list. These are your core fans, your core support.


While a website is fairly static, a blog is active. One page in the website might be a blog. If you write a blog, you should blog at least once a week. The blog written on the website can be automatically posted to your page on Amazon as well as to your Facebook Fan Page, and links to the blog can be posted on Twitter, MySpace, Tumblr.

I can see George blogging about his work in progress, or posting random paragraphs from his published work.

One important thing about blogs: they should be short, and the title should be catchy.

The only way that I have found to have blog posts automatically sent to ping.fm (and then to all your sites) is to use TwitterFeed.com. This can be tricky to set up: tech nerd recommended! You can always simply make a bit.ly link and post your blog to ping.fm yourself.


Related posts:

Net marketing for Ludites: Part 1

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 2 (Cracking the Social Net)

How to promote your book without giving up writing

A wonderful article by Margaret Atwood on discovering the Twitterverse and other foreign realms: How I learned to Love Twitter.

Next up: Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 4 (Friends & Followers)




*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr:  http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 2 (Cracking the Social Net)

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Today, it's essential for an author to have a presence on the Web. The key is to do it efficiently and effectively so that one can continue writing and not go crazy.

I suggest that George (my Luddite student victim) should have:

a Facebook Fan Page
a Twitter page
a MySpace page (because George's subject would appeal to musicians)
a Tumbr page (because that's where the hip and groovy hang out; I suggest George call it Bad Ass)

Overwhelming, right?

It's free to set up these sites, and not too hard to do: it just takes time and patience. For George, I suggest that he find a bright tech-kid (on elance.com, for example) who could set all this up in a day. Perhaps George's publisher could suggest someone, as well.

But then, how to manage all these sites?  Easy: Ping.fm, or, my current favorite, HootSuite.com

After all these pages have been set up, have the tech-kid set up an account with Ping.fm or HootSuite.com so that one post gets sent to all of the above. (Alas, HootSuite does not connect to Tumbr, however.) All George has to do is type a sentence or two into Ping and press send. Voilá.

One reason I think this marketing strategy might work for George is that he writes wonderfully quotable sentences. I think if he started sending those sentences out into the stratosphere (with a bit.ly.com short link to his Amazon book page, of course), he's bound to start building an audience. For example:

I am never late. Not that I'm anal or anything like that; I just have this quirk, possibly the only straight arrow in my quiver of Flecher rejects... [pg. 1, http://amzn.to/Freshman1

Wouldn't you want to click on that link and read more?

Related posts:

Net marketing for Luddites: Part 1

How to promote your book without giving up writing

A wonderful article by Margaret Atwood on discovering the Twitterverse and other foreign realms: How I learned to Love Twitter.

Next up: Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 3 (Blog? Website? Both?)

*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://bit.ly/sgullandFacebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland
Tumblr:  http://sandragulland.tumblr.com/

Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 1

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I always knew my good friend George Whiteman was talented: his paintings are amazing; his CV includes album cover designs for the (now) classically famous. But now he has published a memoir (the first in a trilogy) — The Perennial Freshman — and it turns out he's also an amazing writer.

But now that he has a book out, he needs to know how to promote it. He's never seen a Facebook page, thinks Twitter is what birds do, and doesn't know what a blog is. Where to begin?

First, I would say: the old-fashioned way, by pitching his book face-to-face with bookstores. No successful author hasn't set out on that humiliating road without a box of books in the trunk of their car (John Grisham, Margaret Atwood ... ). Independent bookstores are best (although harder to find). Put together a flyer on the book so that you have something to leave with the clerk and make a dignified exit. (The book has rave Amazon reviews, so he should be sure to quote them in the flyer.)

He should give readings: it's good practice, even to an audience of two (his wife and the bored store clerk). This, too, is part of every writer's experience. If he is in a particular area, his publicist should be able to contact bookstores and set it up. Remember, with readings, it's about practice performing, and about having something to hang promotion on — a reason to put up posters and contact local media, etc. It's not about turn-out (but nice when it happens).

One idea is to film these readings, edit them and put out a short clip on YouTube. George is a natural comic, and this could be a home-run way for him to find his audience. Heck, splice in hecklers and a laugh track!

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An excellent book on the practical side of from-the-ground-up promotion is How to Become a Famous Writer Before You're Dead: Your Words in Print and Your Name in Lights, by Ariel Gore. She also discusses putting together a book tour, which many authors do, although the trend now is toward a "blog tour" (more on that later).

Next up: Net Marketing for Luddites: Part 2 (Cracking the Social Net). Watch this space.

*****

Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
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A writer at work: Agatha Christie's messy notebooks

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"The Mystery of the Messy Notebooks" in Slate Magazine is a wonderful article on Agatha Christie's notebooks: so messy! (So creative.) It gives us all hope!

I'm not so keen on the family notes, however:

Even Christie's second husband, the archeologist Sir Max Mallowan, used her notebooks. He jotted down calculations. Christie's daughter Rosalind practiced penmanship, and the whole family kept track of their bridge scores alongside notes like, "Possibilities of poison … cyanide in strawberry … coniine—in capsule?"

Personal up-date (a bit overdue): I've sent the 2nd draft to an editor I work with. Already I'm throwing notes about scene changes hither and yon (Christie-style). Going through my books, deciding which ones to take back with me to Canada — which ones I'm going to need writing Draft 3. The piles are big! Making travel arrangements for my research trip to France, which is coming up sooner than I think!

Notes from the Cheering Section

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A number of books are coming out right now by writers I know and admire. Two of these I gave a glowing blurb, so I'm especially thrilled to see them getting such great reviews. 

Here's a charming one for Mary Sharratt's Daughters of the Witching Hill, from Passages to the Past:

"Don't you love it when you start a book and immediately get sucked in just from the first few sentences? Well, that's what happened when I began to read Daughters of the Witching Hill. This book seriously had me from hello!"

And also this morning, Stephanie Cowell's novel on Monet, Claude & Camille, got this rave in the Boston Globe:

"Stephanie Cowell is nothing short of masterful in writing about Claude Monet’s life and love... Claude & Camille is both a historical novel and a romance, but Cowell’s graceful, moving treatment of Claude and Camille Monet’s turbulent love defies categorization. It’s an enthralling story, beautifully told. ... She writes in language that is simple, elegant, and extraordinarily evocative."

Bravo! 

Check out Mary Sharratt's book trailer and her website: http://www.marysharratt.com

Stephanie Cowell's website is at http://www.stephaniecowell.com. She also has a wonderful book trailer for her novel (click here).

 *****

Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/

Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv

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Donald Maass on The Elements of Awe

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Agent Donald Maass is always worth reading. These two essays on Writer Unboxed are thought-provoking:

The Elements of Awe ...

"What is the strongest emotion you want your reader to feel? Search and delete that word everywhere it occurs in your manuscript. Now, how will you provoke that emotion through action alone? Got it? Good. Next write down three ways to heighten that action." 

And The Elements of Awe, Part II:

"High story impact does not come from length alone. It occurs when every character in a novel embarks on a profound journey and every plot layer and sub-plot becomes a novel unto itself."

"Literary" is not a four-letter word

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Whenever the word "literary" pops up in a discussion of historical fiction, someone is bound to get ruffled. It's almost not PC, as if there's something exclusive about it, something condescending.

I beg to differ. "Literary historical fiction" is simply a genre. It's a descriptive term for a certain type of writing, and I think it's time to raise the flag and not be apologetic about using the term.

It's the genre I read, and the genre I aspire to write (although I don't feel worthy).

But defining literary historical fiction —or literary fiction in general—is tricky. I know it by the swoon that comes over me when reading. I know it by the lingering afterglow. In literary historical fiction, every sentence is a joy to read, and rarely do things evolve as expected (much less "happily"). There's a profound complexity to the characters and the story. In terms of craft, a work of literary historical fiction takes longer to write than mainstream fiction—usually three to six years.

It's at this point that I begin to imagine hackles rising because there's an implicit sense of "better" and the consequent "not as worthy." But that really is irrelevant. Whatever one enjoys reading is the best for that individual, and whatever one writes, as well.

This is too long a rant for a blog, but I do want to mention the works that inspired it.

First, Coventry by Helen Humphreys. This is a wonderful novel. I love the spare, lyrical quality of Humphreys' prose. She's high on my list of favorite writers of literary historical fiction.

(An intriguing work is mentioned in Coventry: The Nomenclature of Colours. I found a book about it on Google Books and was able to download it. It doesn't have the colour samples, but it does have some of the enchanting decriptions: White: new-fallen snow; Azure Blue: a burning colour.)

Second, a novel I read just recently: The Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick. (Do not be misled by the cover and negative reviews.) This writer has a breathtaking style: sultry, haunting!

Third, a novel I  began just last night, and which I know, simply from the craft of the prose, I'm going to enjoy: Curiosity by Joan Thomas. (It's available in bookstores in Canada and in a Kindle edition in the U.S.)

Awesome: podcast interview technology

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I recently had a telephone interview with charming Marjorie of MyInnerFrenchGirl.com, which she recorded as an MP3 file and posted on-line as a podcast.

I've not had a podcast interview before. What's nice is that I can post it, too.

http://bit.ly/SGpodcastinterview

Tra la!

I dare not listen to it myself: too painful!

To-Do-List Disaster

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This is just a quick post to 1) apologize for being so long between posts, and 2) to observe that "write the book" wrecks havoc with a To-Do-List. Everything gets pushed off the list until "after"--and that after can be a Very Long Time.

I'm closing in on the final second draft (officially draft 2.3). Soon I'll send it off to one of the editors I work with—the amazing Dan Smetanka—and then I'll dive into all the other things on my To Do List, which includes: organizing a research trip to France in May, getting my Facebook readers going on the Google Lit Trip project again, and trying to get out a newsletter.

All this in addition to the not-so-minor task of closing up my Mexico office and moving it up north! I've over two weeks, but I'm already suffering book anxiety: which to take back, which to leave behind.

But first: the final, final, final changes to Draft 2.3...

Note: the illustration above is from the New York Public Library, as posted on Of Goose Quills, Gloves, and Writing Booths—"A Succinct Survey of Authors' Accessories and Accoutrements"—on one of my favorite blogs, A Journey Round My Skull.

*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
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Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Come on board our Google Lit Trip!

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I've been excited about the Google Lit Trip developing on my Facebook Page for The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. We now have basic instructions and a streadsheet for collecting the data. Once that is done, we'll create a Google Lit Trip map for the book that will be of educational use to students in High School and University classes.

We have a good core team, but we need more hands on deck, so if you are at all interested, or simply curious, please join in. You can take on as much or as little as you please.

Check it out!

Our Google Lit Trip Discussion Groups:
http://www.facebook.com/board.php?uid=6284613175

What's a Google Lit Trip?
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=6284613175&topic=13270

Anyone interested, just join in. It's the first time a Lit Trip has been made by a Facebook team, so we're all of us learning as we go. Plus, it's fun. All you need is a copy of The Many Lives & Secret Sorrow of Josephine B.

*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Book cover design in 55 seconds (NOT!)

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Click HERE for a wonderful short video on the process of designing a book cover. (I love the cover!)

On YouTube: http://bit.ly/BookCoverDesign
Blog on the design process: http://bit.ly/BookCoverDesignBlog


*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Street vendor wanted

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A street vendor plays a part in the novel I'm writing, but I haven't settled on what that something might have been in 17th century Paris. A quick Google search reveals street vendors of:

penny ices
blank verses
kindling wood
ink
neckties
yams
straw
oranges
grilled chicken
boot laces

I have yet to find what I'm looking for. I'd like it to be something tasty, so for now I may settle on yams.

Suggestions welcome!

Barbara Kingsolver: Turning on the lights

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I have piles of notes from my weekend at the wonderful San Miguel Writers' Conference. Very briefly, from Barbara Kingsolver's keynote address on how The Lacuna evolved:

1. She first asked: what are the big questions? 
2. She wrote pages and pages on what the novel would be about.
3. As she was doing this, scenes begin to "pop up" and characters appeared.
4. She asked: Who will tell the story? To find the voice, she did a lot of practice-writing.
5. She started, but in bits, not chronologically.
6. Then, when she could see the shape of it, she felt ready to start a proper draft. From this point on (she made it very clear), she was in control — of the story, and of the characters.
7. During all this time she was doing research.

The first draft, she said, was like "hoeing a row of corn." It hurt, like giving birth.

Revision is "where the art happens," making everything fit, "pulling the meaning up." (Again, beautiful.)

Her husband is her first reader, then trusted others.

A problem with early drafts is failing to visualize scenes. She goes through the manuscript, "turning on the lights." (I love this image as well.)

She likes to hold a balance between mystery and revelation —but tends, she confessed, to mystery.

She quoted Chagall: "Great art begins where life leaves off."

I wanted to know more about her work at the sentence level. It is, no doubt, intense. She uses a thesaurus constantly (which interested me).

Right now, I'm reading through the second draft of The Next Novel,  editing it. With each pass, I get closer to the meaning. Soon, I'll be going through the scenes, "turning on the lights."

Rules for writing fiction, from writers and one reader

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The UK Guardian recently asked a number of well-known novelists to give their top tips for writing fiction. The results range from the quirky to the deadly serious. Wonderful!

In response, Laura Miller at Salon.com, posted her list of what she, as a reader, advises writers of fiction. Excellent, and to the point.

Links:
The Guardian survey: http://bit.ly/10rulesforwriting
Laura Miller's article at Salon.com: http://bit.ly/bTKS7J

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