Winners!

Megan Sayer and Samantha Bennett, come on down! You have won the final two copies of The Hinge of Your History: The Phases of Faith. Please contact me via Latayne at Latayne dot com. Congratulations!

The Subjectivity of Readers ... or ... Talk Me Down Off the Ledge

My first thought after reading MaryBeth Whalen's post on Monday was, "Sheesh, I wouldn't want to be in that book club." I can just imagine the conversation from her husband's perspective, hearing her defend her plot and her characters to a group of women who take their fiction far too seriously. Maybe not tomorrow, but I suspect MaryBeth will look back on the experience with the objectivity it deserves. And hopefully, laugh.

~

I think most writers, at least in the early days of their careers, will have a "talk me down off the ledge"moment, when a review or an interview doesn't go as planned. For me, that moment came on a Saturday last summer at my local library. I was invited to participate in a Meet-the-Authors event with five other authors from my hometown, all but one of whom had published more books than I, and who were, by far, the more experienced public speakers.

~

Yet I was the one who took the initiative to contact the other authors and invite them to meet for coffee a few weeks beforehand so we could become acquainted before the event. Turns out most of them already knew each other. But the children's author -- a gracious young woman -- joined me for coffee, and another author dropped in just before our time together ended. Then, a week or so later, the children's author invited me to have lunch with her, the drop-in, and another writer friend. It was nice, and helped me feel a little less of an outsider.

~

I was honored to be a participant in the library event, and prepared my introductory spiel with care, as well as the material for my workshop. But the librarian in charge of the event was ... scattered, to say the least, and even arrived after the event was scheduled to begin. While the 60 or so who had gathered to hear us milled about, a couple of the other authors and I decided we'd go ahead and set up the room for the introductory session, because nothing was done. No tables, no chairs for our panel, no podium for our notes. No organization of any kind. Nothing. Nada. As a fan of structure, I was beginning to feel a little out of sorts.

~

And it didn't help that I sat at the wrong end of the table. I realized the moment it was too late to do anything about it. Isn't that just how it goes? But I only had myself to blame. Left to right, Sharon. That's what I was thinking as I took that seat. Left. To. Right. That's how we do it in the US. And sure as the world, the fill-in librarian began with me. I stood, wishing I had a podium or even a music stand for my notes, and fumbled my way through the next five minutes. When we broke up for our workshops I had exactly three people in mine.

~

True, most of the audience had come to hear the former local policewoman who now writes very successful detective novels, and we all knew it. She didn't disappoint. She was poised, polished, professional. Everything I wasn't. As expected, the bulk of the audience packed itself into her workshop.

~

I took the long way home that day, feeling like an imposter.

~

Considering that I once walked out of my high school sophomore history class and went home rather than give an oral report, I've come a long way. I've done TV and radio interviews and spoken to women's groups, where I was as poised, polished and professional as Police Woman. Just not that day. But for the most part, we writers want to write, not speak. Yet, maybe now more than ever, we have a huge responsibility in the promotion of our books. That means we'll be stretched, we'll have to step out of our comfort zones, and take chances that don't always have a happy ending, such as MaryBeth's book club interview.

~

I've had some wonderful experiences interacting with book clubs. In fact, it's one of my favorite things to do in the promotion of my books. I know MaryBeth will have plenty of positive experiences in her future. But it's hard to let go of that one bad review, that one bad event. Because we're human. Another thing about being human is how very subjective we are. We're subjective as writers, penning stories that mean something to us. But we're also subjective as readers. Not everyone who picks up our books will be a fan. Hopefully the number will be small, and hopefully we'll learn something from the experience. Like how to laugh about it. In time.

~

Maybe you've had an experience as a subjective reader where you didn't go along with the mainstream opinion, whether negative or positive. Or maybe you've had a talk-me-down-off-the-ledge moment, for whatever reason. We'd love to hear about it.

Grace For The Reader, Grace For The Writer- A She Reads Guest Post

Today's post comes from Marybeth Whalen of our sister blog She Reads.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I had committed to a conference call with a book club that requested it, only to be challenged by them on the contents of my book to the point that I was put on the defensive. I kept wondering why this group had asked to talk to me at all if they disagreed with the book so much. My husband, who was in the background while I was talking and could only hear my side of the conversation, kept asking, "Who are you talking to?" He couldn't understand why I kept offering explanations for my characters' actions, why I seemed to be arguing about my book with whoever was on the other end of the phone.

Finally he said, "I don't care who that is, you need to get off." He was frustrated that I had taken time away from our family on a weekend, only to be ganged up on by women who were accusing me of encouraging readers to divorce so that they could find the true love of their lives. (Yes, they actually said that.)

My book, The Mailbox, wasn't written to encourage others to divorce. It was written to explore the themes of forgiveness and second chances and grace. Grace that I was not hearing from the book club I spoke to that day. Yes, my main character, Lindsey, is newly divorced in the book. And yes, she does reconnect with her first love on a trip to the beach following her divorce. But Lindsey is also grieving the loss of her marriage. I wrote the book because I've known one too many women in my real life that have been in that same situation. Where was this group's grace towards them?

After that conversation, I hung up the phone feeling stung and condemned. Though my husband tried to talk me down from the ledge (one of his main roles in life, poor guy), I couldn't stop hearing their voices. I wondered if they realized the power their words had over me; if they gave any thought to the way the conversation would make me feel, not just as an author but as a human being. I walked around processing the conversation for about a day.

And then the most wonderful thing happened.

I got an email from a woman who had read The Mailbox. She is one of those women who found herself divorced even though it wasn't what she ever wanted. She is still dealing with the loss of friends and lifestyle that comes from a divorce. She has felt the stinging judgments of others. And she wanted to thank me for presenting divorce as it really is, for creating a character that dealt with divorce in a way that felt familiar. She wrote words that were a balm to my soul, an affirmation that I believe was prompted by God so that I could break free of the condemnation I had felt following my conversation with the angry book club. I read her email over and over, letting the words sink in. Then I forwarded her letter to my publisher because I know that if I am getting criticized for writing it, they're probably getting criticized for publishing it. They wrote back to let me know that they loved her letter so much, they were reading it at their next staff meeting!

Writing is a solitary task. It is a risk when you write your solitary words and then send them out into the world. Sure your critique group or writing partner might sign off on them, your agent might tell you they're good, and the publisher might buy them. But you really can't know how they're going to be received until readers get their hands on them. I didn't expect to be called on the carpet for encouraging divorce but I did expect to help women who had been affected by it. I wanted to offer those women the grace they deserved through my writing. I am thankful for the woman who took the time to extend grace to me at a time that I needed it most. It turns out that writers need grace as badly as readers do.

Congratulations to Vonilda (Vonildawrites) and Nancy Williams on winning Latayne's new book, The Hinge of Your History: the Phases of Faith, on Wednesday. Please send your address to Latayne@latayne.com for your copies! We have two more copies of this inspiring book to give away today, so add your comment for a chance to win!

On Wednesday, Katy shared about a photo of her great grandmother, a woman of faith who left behind a true legacy for her family. I have two similar photos of women of faith. One is my husband's grandmother and the other is mine. Both are standing in their tomato gardens; both are elderly. My grandmother-in-law is smiling in a sea of tomato plants, her hair tied in a scarf, the hem of her dress brushing her knees and her belt cinched high beneath an ample bosom. My grandmother stands in her jaunty hat, patterned shirtwaist dress and cradling heirloom tomatoes in the crook of her arm. I like to think of her family, present and future, cradled close to her heart. Her faith - their faith - in a loving God whom they served their entire lives was the soil for the seeds that produced vibrant spiritual fruit in the future. Our faith ripened on the sunny window sills of their love.

Neither of these women had easy lives, but they did not become outwardly bitter or jaded by what may have seemed to others as a God who tarried in his promises. I don't think it ever occurred to them to step away from their faith. Perhaps they were more concerned with doing their part than in whether or not God was doing His. This aspect reminded me of Latayne's portrayal of Sarah in her new book, The Hinge of Your History: the Phases of Faith. I can hear the chuckle from each woman at the news that one so old would bear a child. I can't blame them! Knowing myself, I would probably chuckle at the absurdity of it more than from disbelief.

It is humbling to know that the kernel of faith in others relies in part on our own faith. Can that make us stronger, less prone to doubt? It's like bearing a torch, that if dropped, may cause the light to go out for future generations.

How much depends on us? Leave a comment for a chance to win Latayne's insightful new book.

Stories Worth Living

It is so fun to announce winners. And today I get to tell you: Marcia Laycock and Henrietta Frankensee have each won copies of Latayne’s new book, The Hinge of Your History. Such luck. It turns out Latayne's non-fiction reads like her fiction: atmospheric, surprising, intelligent, deeply moving.

If you are Marcia or Henrietta, would you please send your mailing address to latayne @ latayne.com? If you’re not Marcia or Henrietta, there is still a chance to win a copy of your own. We will choose another two names out of our commenters today, and announce the winners on Friday. And then on Friday, we'll do it one more time.

Now to give you something to comment upon, I'm going to quote a paragraph from Stephen M. Stewart's foreword in The Hinge of Your History:

Sarah and Abraham did not know that they were Biblical characters. Like us, they lived out their lives one day at a time, occasionally confused, sometimes making bad decisions, at times mistreating others and each other, and yet ultimately showing the true depth of their love for God and dependence on Him. Through their story, Latayne teaches us that it is how we respond while waiting for the contradictions to God's promises to be resolved that causes the door of God's unfolding story to turn on the hinge of our own faith.

I wonder if this rings as many bells for you as it does for me. I can't think of a better time than now to remember that even the most extraordinary lives are lived a moment at a time, and that most of those moments feel ... ordinary, or maybe even less than ordinary.

I never met my great grandmother, but she is nearly as familiar to me as my own mom, because she lived her Christian faith in such a loving, solid way that my mother and several others in my family tell me she actually glowed, as if she had a halo. I have a picture on my wall, a simple, plump woman in a cotton dress beside her grim-faced husband, and sure enough she does glow, though I can tell she doesn't realize this, that she's just finished cooking the family supper, that her back hurts and maybe she could use a foot rub, but... my great grandfather doesn't look like the type to give one.

And though I haven't yet finished Latayne's book and couldn't say for certain, I'd bet that this woman's response to the disappointments and difficulties in her life made possible the answers to - I'm sure - many prayers for her children, grandchildren and beyond.

Perhaps you have stories of your own, of people who little knew the significance of their lives, the power of their faith.

Please, do tell. There may be a book in it for you.

Using Fictional Techniques in Nonfiction

It’s true – NovelMatters is a blog about fiction. Some of us also write and publish non-fiction, and I’m pleased to announce my new nonfiction release, The Hinge of Your History: The Phases of Faith.

I’m giving away 2 copies of this book—we'll choose at random two recipients from those who comment today.

There are three reasons why I think this book may interest you:

1) Philip Yancey said of the concept of The Phases of Faith that it “is more profound than you can imagine.”

2) This concept has helped me more than any other concept I have learned in my decades of life as a Christian.

3) The Hinge of Your History: The Phases of Faith contains some examples of using fictional techniques in nonfiction.

Why should the readers of NovelMatters learn about creative nonfiction?

1) You may consider yourself a fiction writer, but your daily writing tasks probably involve a high percentage of nonfiction writing. Examples: blog entries, newsletter articles, daily journaling and even Tweeting use nonfiction.

2) If you are a writer working on your craft, you probably read nonfiction about writing. And you know nothing puts a reader to sleep faster than dull writing.

3) You, like every other reader in the world, prefer lively, memorable writing to straight exposition.

Here’s a passage from my new non-fiction book, The Hinge of Your History: The Phases of Faith:

A woman sits outside in the gathering dusk, her back to her tent-home, her eyes straining toward a footpath worn in the soil: a footpath that begins at her doorstep but ends in the unknown.

At first, days ago, she had counted the passing time by minutes and hours. But as sunset followed sunrise again and again, she has begun to count in days the time that they have been gone. Soon she will mark a week of simmering desperation, of both heartsickness and hope.

Her husband (her only husband, though she was often not his “only”) and her son (her only son, born long past her menopause, a miracle baby now grown into a young man) have disappeared into the shifting dust beyond her sight, beyond any human sight.

She has lived decades, more than a century. Now at the twilight of her life she recognizes some things about the God she and her family have served, this mysterious and terrifying One who created the world, but who has also reclined at her dinner table, eating the food she has prepared.

This God only wants the best. And she knows her son Isaac is the best, and the husband who has both loved her and betrayed her through almost one hundred years of marriage has taken that beloved son away, to offer him as a burnt sacrifice in a place that no one has named.

And so this woman sits and waits, an outpost on the frontiers of faith.

At the time I wrote this passage I had not collected a list of fictional techniques that make nonfiction more readable and more memorable. But I recognize now that many of the fictional techniques I employ in novel writing can also strengthen nonfiction.

Here are some fiction techniques (a few of which you may find in the passage above):

1) Banish all passive verbs – the bane of all writing.

2) Use analogies, metaphors, similes and other techniques. For instance, I drew what people have described as a "powerful" and "moving" parallel in The Mormon Mirage between my loss of faith in Mormonism and my discovery that the treasured seagull-rescue story of Mormonism was also without historical foundation.

3) Make the writing personal to the reader, not necessarily to you: Give him or her a reason to feel threatened or intrigued by what you say.

4) Use scintillating chapter heads, subheadings, or other clues to what you will eventually tell the reader.

5) Use hooks of any kind with abandon on the first draft. You can always go back and take them out if they are “too much.”

6) You must have a definite beginning, middle and end in order to satisfy the reader’s need for order, yet in earlier stages leave some things unsaid to keep him or her reading on – because suspense is satisfying, too, when finally relieved.

7) Only tell when it is impossible to show without some telling. Then find a fresh way to tell. That may involve using lists, variations in genre, or arresting descriptions.

8) Use dialogue or dialogue-like techniques—this makes the reader feel like he or she is eavesdropping.

9) If your nonfiction piece has a chronology to it, consider beginning it with what we call in fiction a “precipitating event,” then fill the reader in during the exposition portion.

10) Jackhammer in sensory details with strong verbs. Only use adjectives if they’re essential, and make every non-essential adverb evacuate the premises of your story.

11) If a certain fictional technique doesn’t “work” in your nonfiction writing, you are not married to it because you wrote it. Nor must you feel that you are its mother. Push it out into the world to make its own way, perhaps fading away or finding a home in the writings of hacks. Your recognition of this principle means you are not a hack.

Comments, please?

That Character Must Die!

Teeth and Bones Editing Contest:


We have a winner!


We had over 100 entries for the contest. We're grateful for all the entries. And keep watching the Novel Matters blog as we will be holding more contests like this one from time to time. We love offering these happy surprises to our readers. 


The winner of the Teeth and Bone Editing Contest (chosen from a hat by Bonnie's son)  is: 
Ellen Staley!


Congratulations, Ellen! You can e-mail Bonnie at our gmail address (in the contact section) for instructions on the next step. 
Hurray!



I happen to be one of those writers who loves to hear an editor say: "You have to kill off Joe and make Mary tons more empathetic. And that Sue doesn't step up to the plate. Consolidate her and those three other characters into one. Hey, have you considered making your protagonist a guy?"

(I also get my lip waxed. Keep that in mind.)

This is the truth of the matter--an editor won't ask you to make changes unless s/he is completely committed to the story and believes you're up to the task of making it sing. You want your editor to sharpen his red pencil. It's painful, but having an editor step alongside will help you write a story that will last.

And that's what we want, isn't it?

I've never trusted a critique partner who couldn't rip my writing apart. I figure the manuscript is beyond help, if they don't offer suggestions. I sure wouldn't trust an editor like that either. (I've never met an editor like this, but I've heard they lurk within the golden halls of the NYC publishing scene.) In fact, I edit my stories with every reading, even after publication!

And I love the challenge of revision from editorial notes in a I-will-climb-Mt. Everest-in-my-flip-flops sort of way. No, it's not a trip to Disney World, but it's a cognitive thrill ride that tests me. After all, I've spent the better part of a year writing my story. I want it to go off to the presses ready to please readers. More truthfully, I don't want to embarrass myself. Editors make me look much better than I am. For that, I love them.

Here's an example. If you haven't read The Queen of Sleepy Eye yet, please read the remaining part of this post through your fingers.

I submitted a proposal to sell Queen. Everyone knows stories can take on lives of their own once the writing process starts. In the synopsis, I killed off a character. By the time that part of the story came around in the manuscript, I loved my character too much. He didn't deserve to die. The story world was a better place because of him. My editor didn't think so. His editorial notes looked like this:

HE

MUST DIE!!!!!

My editor was right. I rewrote the last 25% of the novel, killing off my sweet character as originally planned. The story was stronger. The ending more satisfying and much sadder.

After the last two weeks, I think we agree that we need editors and heavy edits are a blessing rather than a curse. It's Friday. We're all edited out, so let's have some fun and give you a chance to enter the contest. So, what will you send your editor for Christmas this year? No budget. No size limit. Be generous.