Carpe Annum--Can the Smack Talk

I'm  having a blast with the Carpe Annum--Seize the Year! theme. There's a giddiness that comes close to inebriation in letting the shackles fall to the ground, shrugging off the old way of thinking, and following the simple path of your own creation.

I call it a simple path not because it's easy, but because a home-grown path is likely one less riddled with rules, rankle, and recrimination than those created by industry.

My simple path this year includes backing away from all the smack talk that happens in publishing. I'm as tough skinned and opinionated as ever, but instead of yapping my head off online about, for instance, what I think about Jerry Jenkins starting a vanity press where hopeful writers can lay down ten grand to have their book published (ooh, bet ya want to weigh in on that, eh?), I'm saving my energy to forge my own path.

That is what I think is at the root of all the smack talk you hear floating around the industry: different writers making choices about their work and then feeling the need to defend their position.

I'm all for the first part: make your own choices about your work.

Want to vanity publish? Self publish? Keep knocking at the closed doors of traditional publishers? Something in between?

Go. For. It.

As long as you are making the choice you need to make, and you've thought out the long term consequences (inasmuch as that's possible), and you're not motivated by fear--do what you need to do.

Hold the phone.

Fear.

The greatest foe of creativity.

This past week I've done some career stuff that has me pretty afraid. I had to make hard decisions that, while simultaneously fighting a stomach bug, had me shaking in my boots (oh, okay, I'm a writer so I was shaking in my bedroom slippers.)

Fear is everywhere.

Fear of missing that opportunity with that agent.

Fear of messing up a relationship with a publisher.

Fear this. Fear that.

Fear wants you walking on tip-toe, holding your breath.

Fear keeps you focused on the "what if" and the "I can't."

Fear tethers you to the rules that no longer work for you.

Fear will keep you from producing honest work.

Fear begins every sentence with "What will so-and-so think?"

Fear smack talks other people's choices.

Truthfully, it doesn't matter what I think about other people's publishing choices. It's not my decision. The only thing I need to worry about is how to wrestle my fear to the ground. That should take all my creative time and energy and I'll have none left over for dissing other people's walk.

And once I get that sucker under control, I'll be able to look around and see that everyone else is doing the same thing: fighting their fear. And all I will be left with is admiration, and a sense of honour to be among these courageous souls.

Carpe Annum with courage and grace, friends.

Bull, er, ... riding

I forgot to mention when I first posted this, so I'm adding it now: Best-selling author James Scott Bell is teaching a Writers Digest webinar tomorrow, Thursday, February 7, titled "How to Make a Career Out of E-Books." The cost is $79. Jim is a great teacher, so if you're giving any thought to indie publishing, this will be a worthwile workshop.

Carpe Annum. I love our theme this year. It makes me feel empowered. Ooooh-rah! as my marine corps husband would say. Yes, he was discharged in 1972, but remember, once a marine, always a marine. I met him when he was home on boot leave, and he taught me that saying right from the beginning -- along with how to spit shine my boots. Ah, young love.

I actually got a jump-start on our theme and seized the year in 2012, when I took the publishing bull by the horns and released Unraveled. It was a small bull, with wee little horns, and he hasn't given me much of a ride -- yet -- but I'm happy to be in the saddle. Oh wait, they don't saddle bulls. But you get the idea.

I was tired of sitting on a manuscript I had complete faith in, because "CBA doesn't like missionary stories." That's what I was told. That in itself kind of threw me for a loop, but what bothered me most was that I do not consider Unraveled a missionary story, any more than I consider Secretariat a western. Yeah, there's a horse in Secretariat but that's where the similarities between it and a western end.

Similarly, Unraveled uses a short-term missions trip as a vehicle to carry the main issues, which are how we react to a personal crisis of faith, and confronting truth in our own lives when we'd rather just not. At least that's how I see the story. It's certainly what I meant to convey when I wrote it. But, alas, I was the only one who saw beyond the missionary element. And by the way, My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa McKay is one of the finest CBA novels I've ever read, and it's most definitely a missionary story.

And so, since I had faith in me, I went for it. And I'm doing it again. I have just re-released Every Good & Perfect Gift and Lying on Sunday, which NavPress took out of print when they decided their fiction experiment wasn't working out for them. As I look on my bookshelves I see Mary DeMuth's Watching the Tree Limbs and Wishing on Dandelions, and Tosca Lee's remarkable Demon and Havah, all published by NavPress. Well, I for one am glad NavPress experimented, and I'll leave it at that.

So I'm here to present Every Good & Perfect Gift and Lying on Sunday in their stunning new covers, designed by our own Katy Popa's Cotton Bond Studio. Tada!!! They're available at Amazon, in both print and Kindle version for the first time. The Kindle books, along with Unraveled, are available at a special price for a limited time. I'd really appreciate you helping me get the word out. If you haven't read them, I hope you will. And if you have, I'd be grateful if you'd post a review on Amazon.

As I navigate myself through the world of indie publishing, I'm still on the fence about whether or not to pursue a traditional publisher for my future novels. One thing I know, I'm not going to spin my wheels any longer. I believe in my work, and if the comments I receive from readers is any indication, others do too. I'd like the little splash I'm making to turn into a tidal wave, and I'm doing all I can to get the ripple started. As I've mentioned before, if you're in a book club contact me for a special offer.

What about you? Have you considered self publishing? Why would you or would you not?

The Death of Genre, Really?

Welcome to our discussion of Donald Maass's book, Writing 21st Century Fiction. We're jumping into the second chapter, "The Death of Genre." Don't let a little thing like not having read the chapter keep you from speaking up. We love a lively discussion around here.

Don't cue up the band or buy the confetti yet. Genre isn't dead-dead, just mostly dead--and maybe not even that dead.

In other words, I had to read this chapter a few times to discover what Maass is really saying about genre, dead or otherwise.

The first challenge to this chapter is sifting through terms Maass has created to talk about fiction. Let's see if I can't get us all on the same page.

Out-of-category novels are written by genre novelists but sell better than most. These books are sold off of large piles in the front of the bookstores and warehouse stores, and the authors are no longer authors but "brands."

I don't fit in this category. I sure hope you do. (Would you like to endorse my novel?)

But we all want to know how to get to this magical place of hardcovers with pallets of our books on display. Maass explains how our novels might earn this out-of-category status:

Deconstrust out-of-category novels and certain common factors emerge: characters we immediately care about, unique worlds, universal human experiences, high tension, plot layers, parallels, reversals, symbols, strong themes. But there's also an X factor: such fiction is personal, meaning that it directly reflects the author's own experience. p. 8

In that case, any novel directly reflecting my life would be sorted into the snooze category (I was born a poor white girl in the Hog Capital of the World), but that's not what he means. Maass doesn't intend for us to write memoirs disguised as novels. He intends for us to mine our preoccupations, our fears, lessons learned, flaws we find impossible to conquer and give them to our unsuspecting characters.

This is what makes our novels personal, our struggles in the skin of someone who's way more interesting than we are. (Maas doesn't actually say the part about the characters being way more interesting than us. That's a Patti Bonus Nugget.)

You've all probably done this--either consciously or not--when deciding what to write about. My newest novel--Goodness & Mercy--comes from my questions about the character of God, specifically His mercy. Can His mercy feel like a knife to the heart or come at an inconvenient time? My characters wrestle with the question in their story world, but so do I. The stories in this way are very personal.

Just to be clear, out-of-category novels are still genre novels, but "they use their category conventions merely as a framework. [Writers] erect inside them stories that express that which defines not their characters, but their authors." I can't help but think of Latayne's Later-Day Cipher, a murder mystery a la Dan Brown (if he were a better writer) within the culture of Mormonism. For Latayne, this novel is deeply personal as she draws on her own life and study in Mormonism. Not only is the story personal, it's highly redemptive, poetic, and chilling. The story also confirms Maass's point that "high-impact fiction requires high courage."

Another distinction Maass makes is between genre blending and genre transending. Genre blending will sound familiar to you because it's nearly the norm. We find  literary crime, historical espionage, and paranormal anything on bookstore and library shelves everywhere. Add to that time-traveling historical romance and urban fantasy. Oh, and sci-fi westerns. It's all out there. Transcending genre, I think, (this is where his distinctions muddy a bit for me) is another way to say out-of-category fiction results (impact and sales) that is not genre bound. These are tough to classify novels that connect powerfully with readers.

This is why Maass thinks so:

Perhaps in part because they have fewer rules to follow, they must rely more on universal techniques and stay truer to their inner compasses. Without genre crutches to lean on they must walk the walk of true novelists. You can call them genre-bending if you like, but I call them genre-transcending. while they may establish a new category, that are genuine fiction masters. p. 12

Fiction master. I like the sound of that. In the end, Maass is saying that it really doesn't matter where we land on the continuum between genre fiction and literary. What matters is fulfilling the purpose of fiction, taking the reader to a story world that immerses them in a new reality, characters that are relatable with dreams and desires not too distant from ours, answers to truths sought by the reader and truths that rock an unsuspecting reader's world, and lastly, a story that captures our age but manages to be timeless.

I don't think Maass meant to confuse us with terms but to cheer us on to slay the genre monster with our writing: "The death of genre will come for you on the day that you cut yourself loose from your fears. When you stop writing like you think you are supposed to and start writing in the way that only you can, then you will discover the impact you can have." p. 16

And so, genre may be a thing in our minds that we either cling to or cast off. But Maass in no manner letting  us off the hook as novelists. I hear a call to excellence. I intend to answer.

Discussion Questions:

• Why do you believe genre fiction is here to stay...or not?
• In what ways have you made your fiction personal?
• What great mystery dogs you? How could you explore it in story form?
• What's your favorite line from this chapter?
• Invent a genre blend you haven't seen yet.
• What will you take from this chapter to improve your storytelling?

Unlikely Sources for Novels

Last month our guest was the wonderful Chris Fabry, and were honored with his insights into the roles persistence and adversity play in the life of an author.

Later this month, we’ll feature NY Times best-selling author Tosca Lee, writer of the critically acclaimed Demon: A Memoir; Havah: The Story of Eve; and Forbidden: The Books of Mortals series with New York Times bestselling author Ted Dekker.

Two things you’ll want to know about Tosca (other than the accolades she has received and deserved.)

First: Her first published book Demon: A Memoir was written around 2000. It sold in a 2006 multi-book deal after nearly six years of rejection.

Second: She gives voices to some of the most controversial people/concepts in Christian –or secular—publishing. Like a demon fallen from grace. The first woman, Eve. And now her newest book focuses on Judas Iscariot.

This book, Iscariot: A Novel of Judas, releases February 5. If it’s like her other books, it will be a beautifully-written bombshell.

Here’s a question for our Novel Matters readers:  Which book have you read that gave you the most insight into a character from the Bible? 

Unrepentant

You'll have to forgive me (or I hope you will) - I was sixteen.
The book was on my high school English teacher's loaner shelf, there for me to borrow, and then bring back, and I borrowed it, and I'm still borrowing it, and now I don't know where the teacher lives, so what can I do?

The reason I never returned the book was because in it I found an essay by Dylan Thomas that started like this:

  "I was born in a large Welsh town at the beginning of the Great War---an ugly, lovely town (or so it was and is to me), crawling, sprawling by a long and splendid curving shore where truant boys and sandfield boys and old men from nowhere, beachcombed, idled and paddled, watched the dock-bound ships or the ships streaming away into wonder and India, magic and China, countries bright with oranges and loud with lions; threw stones into the sea for the barking outcast dogs; made castles and forts and harbours and race tracks in the sand; and on Saturday afternoons listened to the brass band, watched the Punch and Judy, or hung about on the fringes of the crowd to hear the fierce religious speakers who shouted at the sea, as though it were wicked and wrong to roll in and out like that, white-horsed and full of fishes."

This paragraph can explain so much, like why I never could stop wanting to write, and why I gather books just to have them (even if they don't belong to me), and why I tend to like parentheses, and why my sentences tend to run on for whole paragraphs.

Until I have to break them up.

I never returned the book because I could never let go of a line like, "streaming away into wonder and India, magic and China, countries bright with oranges and loud with lions."

Could you? Aha, I thought not.

So here's your assignment: Go to your shelves and pull down the library book you never returned. Find the line that made you keep it.

And tell us.

We love to read what you can't let go.

The Carpe Annum Interviews--Chris Fabry

We’ve declared 2013 Carpe Annum—Seize the Year! It’s our way of encouraging you as an artist/writer to find your own path, listen to your inner iconoclast, and to be set free to explore your true writer/reader/human self.

We’ve asked a few authors to share their Carpe Annum journey and we’re pleased that our first guest is Chris Fabry.

Chris Fabry is an award-winning writer who has written more than 70 books for children and adults. His first novel for adults, Dogwood, won a Christy award. The third book in the Dogwood trilogy, Almost Heaven, won the ECPA Book of the Year for Fiction and the Christy Award. His latest is Borders of the Heart.

Chris is heard daily on the radio programs Chris Fabry Live! and Love Worth Finding. He and his wife, Andrea, co-host the national broadcast Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman, featuring the New York Times Best-selling author of The Five Love Languages.

Fabry’s other books include the NY Times bestseller, Coming Back Stronger, written with quarterback of the New Orleans Saints, Drew Brees, and Left Behind: The Kids, co-written with Jerry Jenkins and Dr. Tim LaHaye.

Chris is a graduate of the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia and Moody Bible Institute. He has been married to his wife, Andrea, since 1982. They are the parents of nine children and live near Tucson.

Novel Matters: Welcome, Chris. The theme this year on Novel Matters is Carpe Annum—Seize the Year! Tell us about a turning-point time in your journey as a writer when you took hold of your career. What did that look like? How did that moment change you as a writer? 



Chris Fabry: In 2008, our family vacated our dream house in Colorado because of toxic mold. We had nine children. All of the children were ill, my wife and I were sick, too. We had to put our two dogs down and basically leave everything in the house: treasured books, electronics, toys, clothes, photo albums, everything. (Thankfully we did salvage a few heirlooms later.)

I was in the middle of writing the book June Bug. Our health struggle became a financial struggle and then a legal struggle. It affected everything. I wanted to give up. I wanted to walk away from the writing, from the pain, from all the questions about our lives and the future. But something inside said that writing was the path to freedom. If I could write through this devastation, if I could allow the pain I was going through to inform the story, my readers would connect with the character on an even deeper level. And I would find a measure of solace in the process.

NM: How did you funnel your immediate experience into June Bug’s story?

CF: In the story, June Bug lives in a small RV. Everything she has in the world is in that RV. We vacated the house and I was forced to work out of a neighbor’s little pull-along trailer. This was in January in Colorado. I could see my breath as I edited. Those days were some of my most productive writing days ever. And June Bug, to date, has been the novel I get the most response about. It has sold the most. I don’t think that’s by accident.

An event like that reframes your life. It shows how committed you are to telling stories and believing they’re going to have an impact on those who read them. And they have an impact on the writer as well. I no longer see my stories as for some mass audience out there. Each story is for an individual reader. And each story is for me.

NM: Which is amazing advice for all writers—get to a place where you’re able to see each story as personal, touching a single life to the core rather than a story that will ripple the surface of a large body of water. That takes time and effort but it’s worth it. Speaking of advice, Chris, if tomorrow were the first day of your career, what advice would you give yourself?

CF: Go deeper. Don't settle for what's on the surface. Use what you're personally going through, the pain and struggle, to propel you. For me, a deep relationship with God is important, it informs everything I write. So I would say, “Lean into that and your characters and stories will have depth.

NM: “Lean into that.” Good words for writers in this rollercoaster industry. We need something solid to lean on and, as it turns out, we need to be the ones who provide that stability for ourselves. Writing careers ebb and flow—one day you’re an Amazon 5-star, the next you’re on your way to the bargain table. How do you—do you?—separate yourself from critical opinions to give your creative self for another day of writing?

 CF: Before I ever wrote a word for publication I struggled with the question, "What makes you so special?" What makes me think I can write something better than author X who has done it longer, studied more, paid more dues, etc. And I had to come to the place where I asked if I really believed God had given me a desire to write and a message.

MN: So, you found the answer of what makes you unique in yourself, not ‘out there’ in public opinion?

CF: When I compare, I always lose because I'm either better or worse than others. But when I focus on what God has called me to do, whether I write or dig a ditch, it doesn't matter, I'm just going to do it in his strength and wisdom and let him do what he wants with it. I actually get a kick out of people leaving negative reviews. It keeps me humble and lets me know more people than my mother are reading the books.

NM: You’ve authored many books. In the beginning, did you consciously choose one of these paths over the other, and are you happy with that choice today? 

CF: I set out to write To Kill A Mockingbird and only have one book to my name, but I've written more than 70 now, in different genres, so I'm not Harper Lee. My main goal is to write stories that will touch readers deeply, as other writers have touched me

NM: Touching readers is the goal of every writer. There are many, many ways to do that through theme and content. You’re books run the gamut of theme, character, even genre. Are there any taboos you've respected in the past that you'd consider breaking now, after years of experience as a writer? If so, which ones, and why? Which would you never break?

CF: I don't use profanity and graphic sexuality. However, both are implied in my books because real life has both. I have an idea for a book where the main character is about as far from God as you can imagine, and that may be difficult for some of my readers to encounter, as it was with Truman Wiley in Not In The Heart. But it's not how good or bad a character is that makes them compelling, it's how real they feel and whether or not you care about them. 

NM: The use of profanity and graphic sexuality is an issue for writers who contribute to CBA (Christian Booksellers Association). But there is a bigger debate out there between writers: outline vs. no outline, just go with the gut. Which do you prefer? What role does epiphany play while planning or writing?

CF: I've never written a novel where I knew exactly what was going to come each day of writing. I know where I'm starting, I know the ending, and I know the conflict in between, but I'm always surprised by what I encounter along the way and the conscious and subconscious work together in my fictive dream.

NM: So, a bit of both. You start with a road map, but often find yourself 4x4ing through the brush. This has to be helpful as a writer who is faced dialing with a changing publishing industry. What once seemed like a narrow river feels more like a vast sea of choice for writers. How are you navigating through the waters these days?

CF: This hearkens to the question above--I'm not as concerned with industry changes and all the choices out there because my main concern is my art, the story. I can have a great publishing plan, a brand people recognize, and all the “right” industry choices made, but if I don’t have a good story, I don’t have anything.

NM: What about in this era of writers needing to market their own books?

CF: Marketing can sell an author once. It won't bring the reader back. So I concern myself with that. And I try to surround myself with people who have done this longer than I have, writers, agents, editors, who can advise well.

NM: Who do you turn to for advice when things are rocky on your writing journey?

CF: My editor at the publisher. You'd think you wouldn't want to say anything negative, but my editor is my friend/my book's best friend. I also email a close writing friend and say, "Help!" once or twice every book.

NM: It’s true, writing, in the end, isn’t the solitary pursuit it seems. Every writer needs a team they can count on. Speaking of things you count on, what's the one thing (be it a technology, a notebook, a wristwatch, or pen) that you can't be without as a writer?

CF: Time. Time is my biggest friend or foe as a writer. That's too nebulous, though. I'd say it's my chair. We relocated to AZ a few years ago and the house we moved into had a swivel chair, kind of a Lazy Boy thing, and it was all I had. I held the keyboard in my lap and sat back from the screen and I couldn't believe how much more productive and relaxed I felt than sitting straight and having the ergonomic this and that. I'm not suggesting this for everyone, but I've never had trouble with wrist pain, etc. And I do spend a lot of time in this thing.

NM: Awesome. I’m going to try writing from my reclining chair. If I get nothing written, maybe I’ll have inspiring dreams instead. We’re glad you were able to hang out with us today, Chris. One last question: What advice do you give to writers who are looking to seize the year and take control of their writing career?

CF: Don't seize a week or a month or a year. (Though I like Carpe Annum.) Commit to today. How much time can you spend working on your idea today? If you have a full-time job and can only spend 15 minutes, do it. If you do that, the Annum will take care of itself. 

Thank you, Chris Fabry for joining us on the blog today and inspiring us to dig deep into our experience to bring fullness and empathy to the story. We appreciate your time and insight!

 As always, we value our reader's ideas, questions, and input. Please share!

You See, But You Do Not Observe

I would like to thank my sister for getting me hooked on the BBC's Sherlock series starring Benedict Cumberbatch (War Horse) as Sherlock and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit) as Dr. Watson. It all started when she gave me a 3-episode DVD for Christmas, recognizing that some things are just good for people, whether they know it or not.  The stories are tightly written, smart and compelling. The characters are well-developed and complex.  And the villain is...well, a madman. The kind you wouldn't expect, which makes you squirm whenever he enters a scene. A fitting nemesis to the self-proclaimed 'high-functioning sociopath.' They have begun the third season and from what I gather, there are only 9 episodes so far. Total.

 Rats. 

What I also love about the series is Sherlock's deductions, which appear briefly in writing over a person or situation stating a fact that he has ascertained by keen observation.  A piece of lint, an impression in cloth, a subtle change in gait reveals clues that are so obvious to him that he remarks to Dr. Watson, "You see, but you do not observe."  Commonplace objects and conditions tell the story for him.  How amazing it would be to have his keen eye to help me to flesh out characters and scenes.  It has challenged me to sharpen my own powers of observation.

In fact, I've put it into practice.  Not really snooping, just watching.  Last week I covertly peeked into the shopping cart of a 50-something man in the grocery aisle and deduced from the copious amounts of single-serving frozen dinner entrees and boxed macaroni and cheese that he would be dining alone.  Possibly he was newly single judging from the men's body wash, men's shampoo, jug of mouthwash and new toothbrush.  People don't usually run out of everything all at once.  But it could happen, and it could be an interesting twist if his actions were misinterpreted - in a story, not in life, poor man.

Of course, physical clues are only part of the story.  Intent and motivation are not easy to deduce or to show. The truth is, I 'see but don't observe' much of the time.  It takes practice to read a person's body language and the clues they unwittingly give. Some good news is that I think that just getting older has helped to make me more observant. Maybe because I've seen a lot. And I bet you have, too. 

So this is one part of how I plan to Carpe Annum in 2013 - sharpening my powers of observation to make strong, true characters and planting clues naturally within the story so they aren't contrived. How does 'seeing and observing' fit into your plan to seize 2013?