N is for Novice Novelist

That is me, a novice novelist, a newbie.  Like any other new undertaking I started with loads of enthusiasm and research.  However with this undertaking, unlike any other, everyone I have come into contact with was helpful.  Not reluctantly helpful but happily helpful.

I have learned so much thanks to the assistance of others and I know I will be relying on the assistance of others as I try to decide my path forward with my maiden manuscript.  Agent or no, traditional publishing, indie or self?

I think this processes is going so slowly for me not only because I am new to it but because it is my first novel.  My first baby that I am putting out into the world and you can only be a first time author once.  For that reason I want to make the best decisions possible and am weighing all options for my introduction to the world as an author.

I would love to hear what other authors have learned along the way, any advice that they wish they had know before they published their book.

Thanks for the support.

Happy Writing.

M is for Manuscript

 If you started following my blog after theme reveal day in March you are unaware that my theme was tossed out the window by some wonderful news (which caused me great elation, which I quickly tempered with realism) that there is a person, a professional in the writing world, who is willing to review my manuscript and if he judged it worthy, he would pass it on to an agent, who would only look at me thanks to his say so; so after that extremely long sentence, if you are still with me... I felt it was time for a manuscript update.

I set, what I thought to be a completely realistic goal of, a month to get back to him, however I forgot that I was compelled to complete a blog a day so a month really is not realistic in April, any other month yes.  I could not drop my second A-Z because I really need to have a platform for when the agent sees my manuscript and wants to check me out.  Of course you know the more followers I have the better it will look to the agent so I am hoping and praying for an A to Z miracle and adding at least 100 new followers in this month, slow going so far I must confess but there is still time. (Hint, hint, nudge nudge, wink wink ;) Just click on the little follow link to the right please.)

I have also been reading other novels like crazy.  My pitch for my manuscript was compared to works by Nick Hornby so I have been reading two of his books and one by Tom Perrotta (a fellow New Englander) as he came up as similar to Nick Hornby. [You can visit my previous post about comparison authors http://katloveswriting.blogspot.com/2014/04/c-is-for-comparison.html for more information.]   I have to stop and say I am in love with the concept behind 'The Leftovers' by Perrotta and while I have only made it 80 pages in I would recommend picking up a copy.

So with all these tasks demanding to be completed simultaneously I am only half way through the re-read and edit of my manuscript.  I have tense issues, a lot of tense issues.  I am working them out but every time I start reading my work I think it is not that great. Other writers are much better wordsmiths, they show don't tell, I am at a third grade level while they have achieved, what, if I remember my Aristotle correctly, would be called a wholeness or the thinghood of their writing.  It is the true form that we are striving towards, the central core of the item that brings it to be recognized for what it is, literature.

Then I pick up one of the 10 books I bought or borrowed from the library as comparison books and realize I am not a third grader I am writing the way I expect my characters would speak.  I am writing a book that is comprised of my writing style, shorter sentences (wouldn't guess it from this post would you!), dialogue and the human experience, for my main character in this manuscript that contains some second guessing and self-doubt.  My work is comparable to the work I am seeing here in published books.  So I am pushing on and hope and pray that I will achieve my goal and finish this manuscript by week end (notice the wiggle room I left there, could be Friday could be Sunday).

Happy Writing!

L is for Libraries

Welcome to National Library Week!

When I was young I needed a library to complete any of my school work.  Without the resources of my local library I could not have found the information needed to complete any reports or research projects.

Now the internet replaces research trips to the library for most of the school work we are doing.  We do still need to go to the library for some book reports but we mostly go for fun.  Our library is very family friendly and has a wonderful selection of books.  We each leave with at least five books when we go, we also rent music and movies from the library as well.  Our library also has copies of all the major newspapers and magazines.  We can also rent e-books and audio books electronically.

Our local library also supplies wonderful study rooms, hosts craft projects, teen groups and informative lecture and music series.

We are not only patrons of the library but supporters through donations of gently used books, purchasing used books at their monthly sales and of course donations of our time and money.

For many people a library is the only place they have to get school work done, to find books, to have a safe warm place to spend their time.

Visit and support your local library.  Instill a love of the library in your children.  The library gives so much to so many.

K is for Keeping in Touch

Keeping in touch with your audience, followers and other authors is:

• essential
• fun
• wonderful
• helpful
• interesting
• educational

I love the people I have come to know electronically and the people I have met in person through my writing.  I have learned so much and been aided in my quest by the wonderful people who take the time to visit and comment.  I hope that I have given back more than I have received.  

I recognize that we are all pressed for time and it is hard to keep up on all the social media and to respond to every post and comment but it is time well spent.  I have set aside time during lunch to catch up and visit with my wonderful social connections and my writing group. 

What works for you?  

Thanks for visiting and enjoy your weekend.  I am most likely doing something that involves baseball with my son.

D is for Defining your Audience

Defining your audience is key to helping you sell your book.  It is also key to editing your book and choosing your beta readers.

My husband is a voracious reader but he has never read a romance story or a book about a female's take on mid-life crisis or a book about family relationships.  He is not my audience and is not going to be a good beta reader for me.

Women over forty who enjoy reading romance or contemporary fiction are my audience and they have made the best beta readers.  I do have a wonderful male writer in one of my groups who read the chapter where my lead characters meet and all five of the women loved it exactly as it was but he thought it needed more sex and that the description of the woman should talk more about her breasts.  "NO!"  was the resounding response from the women in the group and they are my audience so their opinions are the ones that count.

Knowing my audience also helps to define my comparison authors and books.  It helps me know where to advertise my book as well.

Defining your audience is one of the first things you have to do when you have completed the first draft of your story.

C is for Comparison

I know when I began writing I believed my work to be wholly and completely unique and my own. Why would I want to find other authors to whom I am similar?  Why would I want my book to be like someone else's story?

As I learn about publishing and what it will take to get my baby out into the world I discovered that it is actually important to know which authors and which books are similar to you and your story.  It is also very important to know how your story is different from these comparison authors and books.

When you are pitching your story to an agent, a publisher or a potential buyer you have to be able to tell them your story is like an author or book that they already know and love and then how your book is different so they know they have not already read your story and now they know why they want to read your book.

Take a moment to read the reviews of books, the book synopsis, the blurbs, and you will see many of them contain comparisons to other popular books or authors.

If you are an unknown author knowing your comparison author or story are very important to selling your book to the right audience and helping your audience find you.

Go to your local bookstore and ask the staff what books they have that are similar to yours.  Purchase them and start reading.   When you find the one that you think is the best comparison you can go back to the bookstore or go to Amazon and see the recommendations that pop up for people who bought that story. Then read those books.  Now you have your arsenal full and can talk with agents and publishers intelligently about how your book compares and is different to these other wonderful published books.

Happy reading.

B is for Bookstores

Bookstores are harder and harder to find and that is a sad event I am calling you all to rally against by visiting your local bookstore.

Your local bookstore is a great resource for you as an author.  It is also a great place to go as a parent with your children.  We make sure we go to the bookstore with our kids to encourage them to read and the employees who work at our local bookstore are very knowledgeable and helpful finding books that are perfect for our kids.  They also help me as an author find books that are comparable to the book I am writing, are similar to the book I am thinking about writing, are the book I should read in the genre in which I am writing.  Their help is invaluable.  I have asked my writing group and my librarians which books and authors seem similar to mine and my writing style and the best advice I have gotten was from the employees at the bookstore.

Please take the time to visit and buy books at your local bookstore.

A is for Authors, Wonderful Amazing Authors

Authors have always made my life wonderful.  The first books I read changed my life and started me on a path of wonder, escape, creativity, learning, enchantment, sharing, questioning and growing.

I never thought I would would be an author and that I would know so many.  My journey to become a published author has brought me in contact with some of the most amazing people I have ever met.  Writers as a community are wonderfully inclusive and helpful.  I love being able to call myself a part of this wonderful community.

I hope that everyone who stops by and joins me on this journey to finish editing my manuscript and get it out into the world while tripping through the alphabet in April will enjoy the journey and will find information to help them get their manuscript out into the world as well so that we may all enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Happy writing!
Kathryn Thornton