REJECTION LETTERS

    At night, I turn on my laptop and create characters and stories that I hope readers will enjoy. Before completing my master's in library and information science, I worked in the field of education. I shelved books and created reading programs as a media specialist for an all boys high school for two years and then I did the same thing for an all girls high school for another year. Tucked between those two jobs, I worked as an after school coordinator for middle and high school students. The principal and I designed the after school program to help students who were not meeting academic standards or were finding it difficult to achieve success.

One thing I learned about kids is they don't handle rejection very well. They are quick to step away from a situation where they feel they might be rejected or embarrassed. To be perfectly honest, I don't think any of us, adult or kid handle rejection particularly well. That said I wanted to do something to boost my students self-esteem and help them become stronger students and hopefully successful adults. To that end, I brought in my rejection file from my first manuscript, As Long As There Is Love. My goal was to show them that my road to publication was shaky at best. Though all of my rejections, I eventually got the book published by BET.

My students were in awe because I wrote books. Often I would explain to them how very few authors are overnight successes. It took a lot of hard work and dedication. First you have to learn the craft and then apply what you've learned to your story idea.

As I displayed each letter and explained what led to my sending a query to the agent or editor, I discussed my feeling upon receiving each rejection letter. I talked about the methods I used to distance myself so that I could read the letter objectively and hopefully gleam important information. After a few days I would reread the letter and try to understand why the agent or editor rejected my manuscript. Each letter offered something different. Some were humorous, like the one sent by an agent who printed "Not for me," on a scrap of paper. At the bottom of the 1/16 of a piece of paper, she added her name. I teased my students with comments like, "She couldn't afford a full sheet of paper."

Some letters were disappointing, sad or provided less than an ounce of information. Yet others handed me a line or two of encouragement that helped build my self-esteem and kept me sending out proposals.

I wanted my students to understand that it takes hard works and sometimes you'll get your feelings hurt. That shouldn't stop them from continuing to pursue their goals. I encouraged them to learn as much as they could and if possible take rejections or low test scores as a learning tool. Review them, find the weak points, and reevaluate the information until they understood it. If they took nothing else from their time with me, I wanted them to remember that rejections were just part of the story. I wanted them to take what they could from any kind of rejection, but don't let them stop or define who they were or allowing them to keep you from doing what you want.

The same can be said for new aspiring authors. Learn your craft and continue to grow as a writer.

    I'd love to hear from you. Let me know what you think. You can reach me at karenwowens@gmail.com

    Remember, don't be a stranger.

Must Have Thick Skin

I recently read a news article where a school district advertised a single custodial position. That district was inundated with over seven hundred applications for this single entry level job. Some of the applicants were people laid off from other jobs with higher socio-economic status. There were people with degrees applying for the job that didn’t even require a GED. The job requirements: must be able to read and write and follow simple instructions. Since then I’ve been looking at job postings. They all have one thing in common: a set of requirements.



For writers it is different. We come from all kinds of backgrounds, education levels, and social status. There are those who receive formal training and those who don’t. So what are the qualifications for an author? I can think of a few off the bat.



1) Must be able to read and write

That’s a given.



2) Must be proficient in the language.

That is not necessarily a requirement for all genres. I have read some urban fiction written in the voice of the characters that made me wonder if the writer was proficient in English. I also have written a collection of short stories and poems in my native Kittitian dialect, a dialect of English. They are stories handed down from one generation to another and are intended to be narrated orally by a griot. They totally disregard the rules and regulations of the English language. Poetic license gives writers the authority to mutilate the language.



3) Must be a good story teller.

Well most times anyway. I’ve read books published by major publishing houses that are agony to read. There is no build up, no clear ending and after reading the first few chapters my head hurt.



4) Must have an extensive vocabulary.

That’s what dictionaries and thesauruses are for, aren’t they? Besides books written above a certain grade level reading is almost guaranteed not to be read. Most avid readers read for entertainment, not punishment. I recently came across an article where the word choices had me diving in the dictionary every few sentences. I gave up…



5) MUST HAVE THICK SKIN

There is one requirement that is just not obvious until you have become a writer: MUST HAVE THICK SKIN. As a writer, criticism is something one has to live with from inception to completion and beyond.



--THICK SKIN is required when you have your first readers review your work and make comments. Sometimes they’re not favorable.



--THICK SKIN is required when you get those horrible form letters from agents and publishing houses rejecting your work even though you know they haven’t read a word of it.


--THICK SKIN is required when your editor goes through your manuscript and gut out just about every scene that is near and dear to you. Or they change the dialogue so that it no longer reflects your writing style.



--Then after publication THICK SKIN is required when the reviewers get a hold of it. When my debut novel was first published the reviews were all great. I felt good. Then as time progressed some of the reviews were not that glowing. There was a particular one that described the main character as whiney, simply because she has a preference for strong heroines. I remember feeling angry because she missed the growth of the heroine. Moreover, the same points for which that that reviewer gave it a lukewarm review, another gave it a rave review. I had to take a step back and recognize not everyone will like what I write or the way the story goes. So I had to grow some THICK SKIN.


So if you were to post an ad for a writer (preferably a fiction author) what qualifications would include as basic requirements?

Er, "lucked out"?

I believe it was George Bernard Shaw who said England and America are two countries "separated by a common language". And how! As Liane detailed in a previous Novel Spaces post, it's not just a question of "o" versus "ou" or "ward" versus "wards". The differences in the usage of the language itself go much deeper than trivial spelling changes, which is why I'm always relieved and ecstatic to hear that a US-based publisher is not averse to accepting my UK English manuscript and, what's more, is happy to publish it in UK English. (So rare, so precious!)

Most of the time I just take note of the dissonance between the UK English and US English terms and move on, but I have to admit being stumped by a recently popular term.

Lucked out.

I believe this is supposed to be a good thing. I've been told, for example, that I "lucked out" on my book covers. I had to ask, but it appears to mean that I've had a lot of luck with my book covers. (And it's true, I have.) My question is, though, how can you reach that conclusion from that term?

Take similar phrases. "He bled out on the sidewalk." Good? I don't think so. "She flaked out in the exam." Good? Nah-uh. So how come "lucked out" is seen as something positive?

Okay, "luck" is nice. "Lucked"? I think you're starting to hit slippery ground here. Think of other words that end in "ed" (and perhaps even rhyme with "luck"). Like, sucked. (What's the matter, were you thinking of something else?) No matter which way you cut it, "sucked" isn't such a hip and groovy word. (I'll just pause for an undergraduate joke -- Gravity is a myth! The Earth sucks! -- and move on.)

Now add "out". Where is "out" a positive term? Who can show me that? You strike out. You're "on the outside". You're "out of the loop". You're "out there", "out of your mind", "out of options". Okay, maybe "break out" (the "break-out novel"! I wish!)? "Pay out"? Though, in both situations, it depends on which side of the fence you are on as to whether it's a positive or not.

Can you tell I've spent many neural cycles on this one? Lucked out? Even as a series of sounds, it doesn't sound very...appetising. "You really lucked out!" Try it out aloud now. See what I mean?

I'm sorry, I just can't see it. Why is this the current favourite over a much more serviceable, imo, "got lucky"? "You sure got lucky with your covers, Kaz!" Anybody care to explain?

World literature? Try the Caribbean

There are many good, and even great novels in the English language that do not originate in the USA and the UK, but most readers have never heard of them. Although small presses often publish these books, they have a hard time getting the metropolitan bookstores to stock them despite their best efforts.

So what's a Caribbean (or African, or Asian) writer to do? I'm a great believer in the (allegedly) Ashanti proverb: Softly, softly catchee monkey. In the spirit of doing my small part to acquaint readers with non-mainstream works of merit, I'll share three of my favorite Caribbean novels and their writers, all from Trinidad and Tobago, with you.


The Friends by Rosa Guy

I have a special place in my heart for Rosa Guy: my first manuscript caught the attention of my literary agent initially because I shared a birthplace with this author. The Friends, which I read about fifteen years ago, is the first in a trilogy of young adult novels about the lives of Caribbean immigrants in Harlem during the 1960s. The novel explores issues of race and class prejudice, themes which were uncommon in young adult novels at the time of publication.

"[She] is the author of fifteen novels and is the editor and translator of several volumes. Guy, along with with John Oliver Killens, co-founded the Harlem Writer's Guild. Her work has received the Coretta Scott King Award, The New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year citation, and the American Library Association's Best Book Award. She lives in New York." - AALBC.com


Night Calypso by Lawrence Scott

This book was influenced by the Bocas Islands about which I recently wrote on my personal blog. Part of the novel's allure for me was the familiarity of the setting, the history, and the culture, but along with that is the sheer appeal of story: a doctor, an attractive young nun and a traumatized boy are thrown together at a leper colony on a minute island in the middle of the Second World War, amid the roiling social and cultural changes taking place in Trinidad in the 1940s.

Scott is the author of Aelred’s Sin which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 1999 for Best Book in the Canada & Caribbean region.


The Dragon Can't Dance by Earl Lovelace

I've read at least five of Lovelace's novels, and this one remains my favourite. From Booklist:

"Carnival season has just begun in Calvary Hill, a Port of Spain shantytown, and Miss Cleothilda, the carnival queen, and Aldrick, the dragon king, try to concentrate on creating their elaborate costumes, but both are distracted by a young beauty named Sylvia. The queen senses a rival, and Aldrick, famous for his avoidance of work and marriage, feels love coming on... As Lovelace masterfully choreographs the dance of each of his finely drawn characters, he reveals the conundrums not only of Caribbean life but of the human condition itself."

Lovelace's awards include:

• 1965 British Petroleum Independence Literary Award, While Gods Are Falling
• 1980 Guggenheim Fellowship
• 1997 Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book), Salt

In my next post I'll feature the works of three more writers from other territories in the Caribbean.

—Liane Spicer

Read like a writer

Almost thirty years ago my wife Valerie wanted me to write romance novels; mostly because of Toni Morrison and Nora Roberts.

At the time I was writing (but not selling) short stories -- mysteries and science fiction. I had completed the ms for one science fiction novel and the first chapter and chapter-by-chapter detailed outline for a multi-generational novel about a shadow family set in the south and Harlem during the Renaissance. (I envisioned this as my breakout masterpiece.) As it happens, both the SF ms and the historical chapter-and-outline were read and commented on by professionals in the field.
I will always be grateful to Beth Meacham at TOR for actually taking a stab at reading my SF ms. The gist of her reaction was that I had an interesting idea but that I should probably work on my writing skills before submitting for publication. (I came across that moldering ms a few years ago and realized it stank out loud -- for her to have stuck with it as long as she evidently did is huge.)
I didn't submit my historical to anyone, but I did send it to my uncle, Allen Drury. Uncle Al was meticulous in researching his novels and had every blink outlined before he began writing. I'd expressed my concerns about making a novel fit around established history, not to mention my fear of outlining, and took him up on his offer to take a look and see if I was doing it right. He in turn realized he was unfamiliar with the historical period in question, so he asked his writing friend, fellow member of the National Council on the Arts, and expert on the Renaissance, Toni Morrison to take a look at it. For many years, until it faded into illegibility, one of my most prized possessions was Toni Morrison's note commending me on my "deeply felt" writing and sincere respect for and commitment to my subject, but suggesting I needed a "firmer grasp of [my] craft" before I'd be able to do my vision justice. (Is that not the best "you can't write, kid" note ever?)
I still have the outline of that historical novel -- though now there is much of it I would change; three decades adds a bit of maturity to your world view -- waiting for the time my craft is up to my vision. The first chapter was published in a no-pay literary review in the early 90s.

Enter Valerie and Nora Roberts. Valerie was an avid reader of "sweet" and Regency romances and knew that Nora Roberts wrote a 60,000-word series romance novel every month. Valerie's plan for my writing career was to give me a reading list of authors/series she liked then help me "plot-out" a series of romances so I wouldn't have to spend time between books figuring out what to write next. I would then write as fast as I could, going for Nora Roberts' pace, and she would read my ms and provide feedback as necessary. In this way I would get the practice I needed to get a firmer grasp on my craft.
We never followed through on this plan.
My photography business crashed and I went back to college to get a degree in special education and launch my teaching career and writing moved to the back burner. However, my wife did make me a fan of romances, and we did develop several pretty nifty outlines for novels I may yet write.

The worst thing I did, though, was buy a book on writing romances based on the idea of "reading like a writer." Recommended practice: Read a bestselling romance with a box of colored pencils. Underline each sentence about the heroine in one color, use another for the hero, a third for setting, a fourth for secondary characters, a fifth for problems that keep them from their goal… You needed twelve in all, as I recall. The idea was to go back through and count how many of each kind of sentence there was: this would tell you how important each element was and what percentage of your own ms should be devoted to them. I actually did this to a couple of books. Waste of time. This is not reading like a writer.

To read like a writer, you must read like a reader. In other words, just read. Colored pencils, note pads, or tape recorders should be secured in another room --mentally if not physically. Read for the pure enjoyment of reading. (Of course if something particularly strikes you while reading, make a note of it. Anything that knocks the reader out of the story is wrong, and you're going to want to remind yourself to never make the same mistake.) Give no thought to how a story is written while you are reading it.
If, however, six months later a particular passage is still with you, go back and reread it. Now you look at the scene or story like a journeyman cabinet maker inspecting another craftsman's work, observing the woods selected, how they are fit together and what stains or finishes complete the whole. Total deconstruction is not necessary; you need only an understanding of how the thing was done.

In my own writing more than one reviewer has remarked on my ability to establish a sense of place in the narrative. While I have read Bill Bryson, pretty much the go-to guy for describing locations, I owe my description-while-telling-the-story skills to Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter). Twenty years after reading my last Brother Cadfael mystery I can still find my way around Shrewsbury Abbey.

Building a Foundation for Like Mayflies in a Stream

In my last post on February 6, I explained how reading nonfiction can improve a writer’s fiction and promised to tell you about my background reading for my 2009 novel, Like Mayflies in a Stream.

Since then, Kaz Augustin posted about the boggling array of scientific topics she needed to research for her current science fiction romance novel. (See her post here.)

I'm not sure I ranged as far afield as Kaz, but I did need to research a wide variety of topics. Like Mayflies in a Stream is a historical novel set in ancient Iraq in the world’s first city, Uruk, during the time when Gilgamesh was its king. In contrast to most historical novels, for which writers can use contemporaneous records, in Gilgamesh’s time, writing was still in its early stages and was primarily used for record keeping. Historians and archaeologists have to rely on archaeology, later texts, and lots of deduction to reconstruct this time.

When researching, I referred to books and articles for children, laypeople, students, and professional archaeologists in English, French, and German. The sources I used to make Like Mayflies in a Stream as historically accurate as possible and to bring it to life for the reader included:
• Two online dictionaries of Sumerian
• A book about 3rd millennium B.C.E. Sumerian and Akkadian personal names
• A book about cylinder seals
• Historical and modern atlases
• Online photographs of items in the collections of the Baghdad Museum, the British Museum, and several American museums
• A book about cooking in ancient Mesopotamia
• Several books on Mesopotamian religion
• Several books on Mesopotamian history
• Several books on daily life in ancient Mesopotamia
• Maps of the temple complexes at Uruk in different historical periods
• Online and printed resources on geography, deserts, desert animals, palm trees and other natural resources of Iraq, growing seasons for various crops, Sumerian proverbs, clothing, Marsh Arabs, magnetic prospecting in archaeology, beer making, growth hormone disorders, city planning, history of the “Epic of Gilgamesh,” and the history of Uruk
• A videocourse about the ancient Near East

Thank goodness I did this research; it kept me from making many embarrassing factual mistakes in my book. But was it enough? No. I still had questions that I could not find answers to. I extrapolated from other societies or time periods or wrote around the problem. Some things in history will always remain a mystery.

What odd things have you had to research for your novels?


I’m glad you stopped by today. I’ll be blogging again at Novel Spaces on March 8.

—Shauna Roberts

Three Scene Writing Secrets

I received an email this week which included the below writing tips called A Recipe for Scenes. Reading this served as a great reminder as I'm wrapping up some of the final chapters for my novel that's due next month. The email was from WritersOnlineWorkshops.com. I decided to share these tips today, sort of sampling the info so to speak. I hope you find them helpful:


A Recipe for Scenes


Like a recipe, each scene is going to require different quantities of the ingredients that comprise it, depending on the intention of the scene and the goals of the novel you are writing. To this end, scene writing is simply a breaking down of the different craft elements and an understanding of the way in which they intertwine. Many of you might simply rely on your writer's intuition to accomplish this balance, but for those of use who struggle with the "how much is too much" conundrum, it's important to provide a clear checklist of what a scene should contain:


Secret One - Action:
This is perhaps the most fundamental element of a scene. Something has to happen. And that something has to compel the eyeballs to scan to the end of each and every sentence. Scenes function a bit as a chain reaction; one scene builds upon another, upon another, upon another until we get a full sense of the world inside your novel. How is the action of this scene related to the overarching plot of your novel?


Secret Two - Characters and their baggage:
By characters, I don't simply mean flat, two-dimensional characters. They must have a complex history, desires, and motivations. And by baggage, I mean that your characters must have histories and desires; they must want something—both in the short-term (the scene) and the long-term (the novel/story). What understanding of the character will the reader take away from the scene that will help them decipher the rest of your novel?


Secret Three - Text/Subtext:
Hemingway once said, "I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows." What he means is that if what you've written is written carefully, you're reader will be able to read further into your story, beyond what is immediately written. The adage "less is more" is useful when writing your scenes. Don't give too much away; practice the art of subtlety.


These might appear to be basic to some authors, but even basic principles bear repeating. Feel free to share any scene writing tips you've learned along the way.


Happy Writing!